Premium
P159Three‐dimensional ultrasound reconstruction and telemedicine. Image analysis
Author(s) -
FerrerRoca O.,
Troyano J. M.,
VilarchaoCavia J.,
Clavijo M. T.,
Marco O. Y.,
Feo C. M.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
ultrasound in obstetrics and gynecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.202
H-Index - 141
eISSN - 1469-0705
pISSN - 0960-7692
DOI - 10.1046/j.1469-0705.2000.00004-1-157.x
Subject(s) - integrated services digital network , medicine , software , the internet , lossless compression , telemedicine , workstation , pentium , computer science , computer graphics (images) , computer vision , medical physics , artificial intelligence , data compression , telecommunications , operating system , health care , economics , economic growth
Background In the present study the 3D US images reconstruction is combined with the distant consultation through internet or through an ISDN line. Method Trial consists of explorations done during 1999/2000 in our US unit at the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department. The equipment is integrated by: a standard Aloka‐SSD 680 ultrasound device, a Dual Pentium II workstation with 256 Mb RAM memory and Windows NT operative system, a falcon framegrabber board, and the TeleInvivo 3D reconstruction and teleconsultation software by MEDCOM. Echograph images are acquired by the workstation through a falcon digitising board, and the TeleInVivo software generates a 3D volume. These volumes can be sent to a remote host via internet or via an ISDN line, allowing an on‐line teleconsultation and telediagnosis. Results During the trial we made 149 teleconsultations of different pathologies. 3d reconstruction was time consuming (20 min to 4 h) and of a limited diagnostic value, but of future relevance to reduce patient multiple explorations due image constraints such as sub optimal foetal position among others. The final volumes are sent wavelet lossless compressed through internet or an ISDN line, and for a normal size of 1.5 MB the time consuming is from 4 to 8 min to be transmitted. Conclusion The use of internet or an ISDN line is a fast method for sending and consulting 3D ultrasound images, and it is possible due to the selected volume rendering techniques that provide an effective compression of the original data.