A fiber-optic broadband CT/MR video communication system

Our department operates three magnetic resonance (MR) and three computed tomography (CT) scanners that are located in three different buildings up to 2 km apart. We have designed and implemented a multichannel, fiber-optic broadband video communication system as a remote scanner monitoring network. This system consists of baseband and broadband fiberoptic transmitters, receivers, and multiplexers. The structure of the video network is supported by two strategically located headends (distributors) connecting local/remote scanners and monitoring stations. The system is capable of serving up to 5 km from each headend. The video signal from each scanner is sent through a baseband fiber-optic link to a headend, where it is frequency modulated, multiplexed with other scanner video signals, and distributed over broadband fiber-optic links to monitoring stations. Each receiver consists of a demodulator, a channel selectable tuner, and a video monitor. The current design provides up to 16 scanner channels and 16 remote monitoring station connections. Monitoring stations are placed in 14 clinical locations including the following reading rooms: thoracic, neuro, abdomen, musculoskeletal, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, and pediatric radiology. A radiologist can use any of these 14 monitoring stations to view a patient's CT/MR images in real-time as they appear on any of the six scanner consoles. By selecting the proper channel assigned to a patient's scanner, the radiologist may monitor the examination while using the telephone to communicate with the technologist at the scanner site. This fiber-optic broadband video communication system has been integrated into daily clinical use for over 6 months.