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An open medical imaging workstation architecture for platform-independent 3-D medical image processing and visualization.

A need for an entirely new medical workstation design was identified to increase the deployment of 3-D medical imaging and multimedia communication. Recent wide acceptance of the Word Wide Web (WWW) as a general communication service within the global network has shown how big the impact of standards and open systems can be. Information is shared among heterogeneous systems and diverse applications on various hardware platforms only by agreeing on a common format for information distribution. For medical image communications, the Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine (DICOM) standard is possibly anticipating such a role. Logically, the next step is open software: platform-independent tools, which can as easily be transferred and used on multiple platforms. Application of the platform-independent programming language Java enables creation of plug-in tools, which can easily extend the basic system. Performance problems inherent to all interpreter systems can be circumvented by using a hybrid approach. Computationally intensive functions like image processing functions can be integrated into a natively implemented optimized image processing kernel. Plug-in tools implemented in Java can utilize the kernel functions via a Java-wrapper library. This approach is comparable to the implementation of computationally intensive operations in hardware.

Computer Communication Networks↗

Computerized fetal heart rate analysis and neural networks in antepartum fetal surveillance.

The use of computers for analysis of fetal heart rate has developed rapidly, enabling reproducible, objective analysis of fetal heart rate patterns. The problems of observer differences in visual assessment of fetal heart rate, and the continuum of antepartum and intrapartum fetal condition can be clarified through the use of such approaches. Computerized fetal heart rate analysis presents opportunities to perform precise evaluations of the effects of environmental conditions, medications, and disease states on fetal heart rate parameters.

Computer Communication Networks↗

Building a generic architecture for medical information exchange among healthcare providers.

Due to the inability to exchange clinical information among hospitals, continuity of care cannot be maintained and a tremendous amount of medical resource has been wasted. This paper describes an architecture that would facilitate exchange of clinical information among heterogeneous hospital information systems. It is dubbed 'Medical Information Exchange Center' or MIEC as part of a six-year Health Information Network Project hosted by the Department of Health. MIEC was designed so that it is innovative yet technically feasible today. It is convenient for authorized users yet secure enough so people can trust and has minimal impact to participated hospitals. Authorized users will be able to access information through two web-based interfaces directed to physician and non-physician users respectively. Hospitals are connected through a virtual private network to exchange patient information and users need to obtain a private key from the certificate authority in order to securely connect to MIEC. A pilot project was conducted to demonstrate the feasibility of this architecture and the problems encountered were discussed.

Computer Communication Networks↗

The networking standards evolution: toward a real electronic medical record. Interview by Carolyn Dunbar.

While converging networking standards have created short- and long-term options for healthcare IS planners, one strong goal is a "life-long, longitudinal electronic medical record" that includes data of all types--text, wave forms, voice, images and other pictorial data. Jack Harrington of Hewlett-Packard says these complex efforts are shaped by major forces that now speed progress toward multilateral acceptance of a uniform standard.

Computer Communication Networks↗

[The development of multi-lead EEG telemetry and tele-monitoring system].

This paper introduces a kind of EEG Telemetry and Tele-monitoring system. With the use of the public telephone network to transport signals and the portable EEG recording system as the sender of system, the EEG data of 20 standard leads can be transmitted to the receiver of system (monitoring center) synchronously. And at the monitoring center, the waves can be displayed real-time, freezing, stored, reviewed, analyzed and printed, thus providing aid in remote diagnosis and treatment consultations.

Computer Communication Networks↗

Building a children's health network: city-wide computer linkages among heterogeneous sites for pediatric primary care.

For many infants and children in our cities, quality of care and health status outcomes suffer due to poor continuity and coordination among ambulatory care sites. Despite proximity to technologically-advanced secondary and tertiary institutions, primary care services for children are fragmented, multiple-site use is common, and data flow among providers serving the same patients is primitive. Preventive and acute health care is often incomplete or redundant, and aggregate information for public health purposes is insufficient. This paper focuses on the development of a city-wide computer-based pediatric health care network to improve provider decision-making and follow-through, parent role in their children's care, and community-wide data. A process of building consensus for a regional system is presented, addressing issues of establishing a uniform data base, coordination among heterogeneous institutions, system development, confidentiality, and integration with public health reporting and planning functions.

Child↗

Remote monitoring of implantable cardioverter defibrillators: a prospective analysis.

A prospective study evaluating the functionality and ease of use of the Medtronic CareLink Network, "CareLink," was conducted at ten investigational sites. This internet-based remote monitoring service allows clinicians to remotely manage their patients' implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) and chronic diseases. The network is comprised of a patient monitor, a secure server, and clinician and patient websites. Under clinician direction, patients interrogated their ICDs at home, and transmitted data to secure servers via a standard telephone line. Comprehensive device data and a 10-second presenting rhythm electrogram were captured by the monitor and available for access and review on the clinician website. The information could also be printed using a standard desktop computer with internet access. During this study, patients were asked to transmit device data twice, at least 7 days apart, as scheduled by the clinic. Monitor functionality was assessed, and ease of using the system components was evaluated via questionnaires completed by patients and clinicians following each data transmission and review. Fifty-nine patients (64 +/- 14 years, range 22-85 years) completed 119 transmissions with only 14 calls to the study support center. Clinician review of data transmissions revealed several clinically significant findings, including silent AF discovery, assessment of antiarrhythmic drug efficacy in a previously diagnosed AF patient, previously unobserved atrial undersensing, and ventricular tachycardia. ICD patients found the monitor easy to use. Clinicians were pleased with the performance of the network and the quality of the web-accessed data, and found it comparable to an in-office device interrogation. CareLink is a practical tool for routine device management and may allow timely identification of clinically important issues.

Adult↗

MobiHealth: ambulant patient monitoring over next generation public wireless networks.

The wide availability of high bandwidth public wireless networks as well as the miniaturisation of medical sensors and network access hardware allows the development of advanced ambulant patient monitoring systems. The MobiHealth project developed a complete system and service that allows the continuous monitoring of vital signals and their transmission to the health care institutes in real time using GPRS and UMTS networks. The MobiHealth system is based on the concept of a Body Area Network (BAN) allowing high personalization of the monitored signals and thus adaptation to different classes of patients. The system and service has been trialed in four European countries and for different patient cases. First results confirm the usefulness of the system and the advantages it offers to patients and medical personnel.

Ambulatory Care↗

Automating Veterans Administration libraries: I. National planning and development.

The Veterans Administration Library Network (VALNET) needed an automated library system that could interface with the agency's national automation activities. The Library Special Interest Users Group was established to oversee the selection of appropriate automated systems. The Massachusetts General Hospital Utility Multi-Programming System (MUMPS) computer language and VA FILEMAN, a database management system, are being used to create new library software, which will be in the public domain.

Computer Communication Networks↗

MITIS: a WWW-based medical system for managing and processing gynecological-obstetrical-radiological data.

In this paper a World Wide Web (WWW)-based medical system, called MITIS, is designed and developed for the management and processing of obstetrical, gynecological and radiological medical data. The system records all the necessary medical information in terms of patient data, examinations, and operations and provides the user-expert with advanced image processing tools for the manipulation, processing and storage of ultrasound and mammographic images. The system can be installed in a hospital's Local Area Network (LAN) where it can access picture archival and communication systems (PACS) servers (if available), or any other server within the radiology department, for image archiving and retrieval, based on the digital imaging and communication in medicine (DICOM) 3.0 protocol, over TCP/IP and also it is accessible to external physicians via the hospital's Internet connection. MITIS is composed as a set of independent WWW modules (ISAPI server extension dlls) and a Win32 application (COM+ server) for mammography image processing and evaluation.

Algorithms↗

The need for command and control instant message adaptive interfaces: lessons learned from Tactical Tomahawk human-in-the-loop simulations.

In the recent development of a human-in-the-loop simulation test bed designed to examine human performance issues for supervisory control of the Navy's new Tactical Tomahawk missile, measurements of operator situation awareness (SA) and workload through secondary tasking were taken through an embedded instant messaging program. Instant message interfaces (otherwise known as "chat"), already a means of communication between Navy ships, allow researchers to query users in real-time in a natural, ecologic setting, and thus provide more realistic and unobtrusive measurements. However, in the course of this testing, results revealed that some subjects fixated on the real-time instant messaging secondary task instead of the primary task of missile control, leading to the overall degradation of mission performance as well as a loss of SA. While this research effort was the first to quantify command and control performance degradation as a result of instant messaging, the military has recognized that in its network centric warfare quest, instant messaging is a critical informal communication tool, but has associated problems. Recently, a military spokesman said that managing chat in current military operations was sometimes a "nightmare," because military personnel have difficulty in handling large amounts of information through chat, and then synthesizing knowledge from this information. This research highlights the need for further investigation of the role of instant messaging interfaces both on task performance and situation awareness, and how the associated problems could be ameliorated through adaptive display design.

Automation↗

Telemedicine and security. Confidentiality, integrity, and availability: a Canadian perspective.

The health care system is undergoing major reform, characterized by organized delivery systems (regionalization, decentralization, devolution, etc); shifts in care delivery sites; changing health provider roles; increasing consumer responsibilities; and accountability. Rapid advances in information technology and telecommunications have led to a new type of information infrastructure which can play a major role in this reform. Compatible health information systems are now being integrated and connected across institutional, regional, and sectorial boundaries. In the near future, these information systems will readily be accessed and shared by health providers, researchers, policy makers, health consumers, and the public. SECURITY is a critical characteristic of any health information system. This paper will address three fields associated with SECURITY: confidentiality, integrity, and availability. These will be defined and examined as they relate to specific aspects of Telemedicine, such as electronic integrated records and clinical databases; electronic transfer of documents; as well as data storage and disposal. The guiding principles, standards, and safeguards being considered and put in place to ensure that telemedicine information intrastructures can protect and benefit all stakeholders' rights and needs in both primary and secondary uses of information will be reviewed. Implemented, proposed, and tested institutional, System, and Network solutions will be discussed; for example, encryption-decryption methods; data transfer standards; individual and terminal access and entry I.D. and password levels; smart card access and PIN number control; data loss prevention strategies; interference alerts; information access keys; algorithm safeguards; and active marketing to users of standards and principles. Issues such as policy, implementation, and ownership will be addressed.

Canada↗

Emerging technologies. From fascination to application.

When Medtronic founder Earl Bakken saw the 1931 film Frankenstein, a fascination was born that grew into a conviction that technology could be harnessed to improve life. And so it has. But information technologies dominate some of the newest breakthroughs in healthcare--have you heard of network computers, extranets, thin clients, patient informatics, peopleware, Webtops, or zero administration? If not, you will. Meantime, what do they mean to you? For the most part they promise a return to a simpler, cheaper, easier to run, less scary model for systems development. And also, a returned focus on everyone's ultimate goal--improving patient care. The truth about emerging technologies? As our story suggests, it's as obvious as the scars on Frankenstein's face: Keep it simple.

Computer Communication Networks↗

AUDILAB: a knowledge-based quality audit simulator for testing laboratories.

In order to obtain an accreditation, a laboratory must be prepared to provide a point-by-point check of various activities against the chosen reference standard, both from a general point of view and in relation to details of application. This paper describes AUDILAB, a computerized simulator accessible by network, able to provide testing laboratories with realistic quality audits performed in a customized way. AUDILAB establishes a detailed list of strengths (compliance with corresponding requirements of established standards) and weaknesses (improvements needed for laboratory's accreditation). The standard used by AUDILAB is the EN 45001 "General criteria for the operation of testing laboratories". A preliminary validation has already been completed. AUDILAB became operational in September 1993.

Artificial Intelligence↗

[Participation in a simple large-scale randomized trial organized by EORTC through an international computer network].

Case registration and treatment allocation was achieved in a "Simple large-scale trial against colorectal cancer" designed by the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) using an international computer network system VENUS-P. The access to the central computer "EuroCODE" was obtained by simple equipment including ordinary microcomputer, modem and telephone line. Subscription to the KDD data network VENUS-P using a Packet Assembler/Disassembler (PAD) was necessary to connect to the EuroCODE. Intraoperative patient registration and allocation of treatment were possible through this system regardless of the time difference between countries. To organize a large-scale trial as a means to detect moderate but medically worthwhile treatment differences, this method proved to be particularly effective especially for international cooperative studies.

Colonic Neoplasms↗

Creation of a regional medical-nutrition education network.

The Southeastern Regional Medical-Nutrition Education Network (SER-MEN) was developed to coordinate and improve nutrition education in a consortium of the medical schools in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. SERMEN's central office is at the Medical College of Georgia with the testing office at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Students, faculty, and consultants in nutrition, education, and computer networking work together on projects on each campus that are coordinated and planned through semiannual meetings. A standardized examination was developed with the Nutrition Test-Item Bank to assess nutrition knowledge at various years of medical students from network schools. Each SERMEN school is connected to a microcomputer system at the central office that provides access to a data base of nutrition education and resources on each campus for developing curricula and syllabi. Funding has been provided by societies, foundations, and government agencies.

Computer Communication Networks↗

Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy-model-based fault detection for networked control systems with Markov delays.

A Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) model is employed to represent a networked control system (NCS) with different network-induced delays. Comparing with existing NCS modeling methods, this approach does not require the knowledge of exact values of network-induced delays. Instead, it addresses situations involving all possible network-induced delays. Moreover, this approach also handles data-packet loss. As an application of the T-S-based modeling method, a parity-equation approach and a fuzzy-observer-based approach for fault detection of an NCS were developed. An example of a two-link inverted pendulum is used to illustrate the utility and viability of the proposed approaches.

Algorithms↗

Seamless care in the health region of Crete: the Star* case study. Seamless Telematics Across Regions.

Seamless collaboration and medical information exchange among health care experts is an open question on existing health care systems. The patient record is usually scattered all over the health care network making access to crucial medical information troublesome. The Star* (Seamless Telematics Across Regions) project provides a set of solutions towards this direction which will soon be applied at Crete. Initially two health care structures will be involved in the process but later on and after tests have been completed successfully in real world applications, results will be defused over the whole health care region of Crete.

Computer Communication Networks↗