To ensure the acceptance of telemedical applications several obstacles must be overcome: the transfer of huge amounts of data over heterogeneous hard- and software platforms must be optimized; extended data post-processing is often required; and data security must be taken into consideration; post- processing based on secured data exchange must retain the relationship between original and post-processed images. To analyze and solve these problems, applications of distributed medical services were integrated. Data transfer and management was based on the Digital Imaging and Communications (DICOM) standard. To account for platform- independence of remote users, a novel DICOM server and viewer as implemented in JAVA. Different DICOM-conform data security concepts were analyzed. Encryption of the complete data stream using secure socket layers as well as a partial encryption concepts were tested. The best result was attained by a DICOM-conform encryption of patient-relevant data. The implementation medical services, which used newly develop techniques of magnetic resonance imaging, allowed a much earlier diagnosis of the human brain infarct. The integrated data security enabled remote segmentation within the unsecured internet, followed by storing the data back into the secured network.

Date Published: 18 July 1999
PDF: 11 pages
Proc. SPIE 3662, Medical Imaging 1999: PACS Design and Evaluation: Engineering and Clinical Issues, (18 July 1999); doi: 10.1117/12.352780

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 3662:
Medical Imaging 1999: PACS Design and Evaluation: Engineering and Clinical Issues
G. James Blaine; Steven C. Horii M.D., Editor(s)