[Diagnostic image management and communication systems: experience at the University of Pisa]

Our work was aimed at implementing and validating a system for the acquisition, local management and remote transmission of diagnostic images. Integration of imaging equipment was performed in each of the two sites (5 km apart) in which the Department of Radiology of the University of Pisa is divided. Teleradiology was carried out using 64 Kbit/s lines as well as a 140 Mbit/s Metropolitan Area Network compliant with the Distributed Queue Dual Bus standard. Application domains included remote expert consultation and teleprocessing of diagnostic images. Remote expert consultation was performed in particular by using the 34 Mbit/s interconnection with the Metropolitan Area Network of Florence. Remote processing of diagnostic images using the high speed link allowed the cooperative work with scientific institutions in a field often limited by the complexity of image transfer and by the lack of a timely feed-back concerning the clinical value of processed images. Advanced processing of diagnostic images was performed in the field of stereographic display of CT and MR data sets. Moreover, experience was gained in the visualization, on a single composite image, of the multiparametric data obtained by means of different MR sequences (T1, Spin Density, T2), thus allowing to summarize, by using false colors, different tissue contrast information.