Compendium of Health Telematics Projects 94-98 (Draft)
Home Documents Compendium HT Projects 94-98 Updated: Aug 26, 1998 

This is the most recent structured information on this project. Complementary data can be found on previous documents

MEDIMEDIA

Medical Images Integration for Multimedia European Databases Interconnection and Common Access

Project code: HC 4013
Project value: 2454.0 KECU
EC contribution: 1365.0 KECU
Number of partners: 25
Number of countries: 7
Duration:24 months
Starting date: May 1, 98
               
Contact: DELVAUX Michel
Hopital de Toulouse
Gastroenterology Unit, CHU Rangueil
1 avn J.Poulheur
31054 Toulouse
France

Tel: 33 561 32 24 52
Fax: 33 561 28 53 10
E-mail: 106521.3337@compuserve.com
Web Site:

Overview

Medical imaging has become a major field of interest in healthcare over the last decade. Indeed, most of the diagnostic procedures used in daily practice produce images of different types and from different sources: medical imaging will become more and more multimodal. On the other hand, a number of driving forces are pushing the medical community towards a better integration of all the data related to one patient in a centralised folder and the development of adequate applications supporting an electronic integrated patient record is a key step for the future development of informatics for healthcare. Thus, the possibility of integrating images from different sources in this patient record is a mandatory step which requires a certain level of integration and/or interoperability between systems producing these images as well as standardisation of images formats and terminology.

Within the 4th Framework Programme, Health Telematics Sector, several projects have been funded which deal with medical images and they will result in the implementation of large databases of medical images: X-ray, endoscopy, pathology, CT scanner. "Umbrella projects" are defined as large R&D projects that try to cluster the activity of various existing projects funded by the 4th Framework Programme in order to bring adapted solutions to questions of common interest. This was thus a unique opportunity to develop informatics solutions integrating existing databases of medical images into a common search engine and providing innovative user interfaces. The MediMedia project is built upon the co-operation of 7 projects who have decided to produce a common search engine, interfacing to each of the existing databases and a new user interface based on 3-dimension technologies in order to allow the end user (the clinical practitioner) to access the information contained anywhere in the databases through a "one stop shopping" query process. The project will also propose solutions that, in a further step, will be useful for integration of multimodal medical images into the patient folder. By associating an important scientific publisher to the project, the output of it will also be exploited for education and documentation purposes, through both on- and off-line access. This integration programme will be based on existing standards which will be reviewed extensively during the implementation phase. Thereby, the project will demonstrate the possibility of interoperability of databases of medical images and will propose and validate standards for image management and terminology. Reports on the implementation of these standards will be forwarded to international organisations in charge of them and reinforce the presence of European partners in these regulatory bodies.

Purpose and objectives

The main objective of the project is to promote the integration of medical images produced by various procedures, including radiology and its different modalities, endoscopy, pathology... The integration of medical images will be addressed from a technical point of view, by building a search engine that will be able to access the images of these different databases, without needing transfer of the images into a common database neither the harmonisation of primary images format. The MediMedia project will also develop an original user interface that will allow the user to easily perform queries that will concern a number of different databases. To achieve these goals, the MediMedia project will also set up an Observatory of standards for medical images, in order to adapt the application to the evolving knowledge in this field and to make the application flexible for this adaptation. This observatory will result in several publications and will allow the consortium to establish links with other projects dealing with standardisation and with authorities in charge of standardisation processes. At the end of the project, the demonstrator of the application will become a tool for accessing various databases of medical images. As far as many of these databases have been developed in the main fields of medical images, a number of images will be available through the search engine. The application will thus constitute a global system of information for the medical disciplines dealing with images and will constitute the platform for the development of large libraries of referenced medical images. Global organisation of the Medimedia search engine and connection with existing databases

Results

The application will consist of a search engine that will allow the user to send one query that will be directed to any of the databases run by the participating projects. These databases will interface with the search engine using the existing standards for image exchange (DICOM 3.0) and will also organise the information around a standard terminology which will be chosen amongst the existing ones. On the other hand, the access of the user to the search engine will be offered through an original user interface integrating the information into 3D-models. In a first time, the demonstrator will be built around one area of interest. Considering that the demonstrator will use the images contained in existing databases run by the different projects and that it needs to validate and verify the possibilities of integrating multimodal images, it will be limited to one area of interest which might be the normal aspects and the pathology of the mediastinum. This anatomical region is indeed explored in clinical practice by different X-ray modalities, by cardiac ultrasound procedures, by endoscopy of the airways and of the oesophagus and specimens obtained by biopsy or by surgery are examined by pathologists.

To achieve this implementation of the MediMedia application in the context of a clinical use of medical images, the demonstrator will be implemented in various university hospitals with a background in the field of the medical informatics and which are already involved in the existing projects that will cluster into MediMedia. In addition to these university hospitals, the project will set up a programme of interaction with European scientific societies of the various medical disciplines involved in the area of the project and/or in the area of the existing projects that will participate in MediMedia: European Association of Radiology, European Society of Gastrointestinal Pathology, European Association of Pathologists, European Society of Cardiology. These Societies will participate in the definition of the users requirements and in the peer review of the work done in MediMedia by providing experts. Finally, the search engine and the infrastructure of the MediMedia application will be linked to the on line service provided by Springer Verlag to doctors for medical information. This will really put the application developed in MediMedia in the position of entering the market of medical services at the end of the project.

As shown in figure here below, the MediMedia application will actually be based on the integration of the R&D work already done in the existing projects that will cluster to constitute the Consortium of MediMedia. This means that the information and the data displayed in the MediMedia application will be obtained from these existing databases. The software developed by each of the projects will also be integrated into the MediMedia project, through the development of specific interfaces between the databases and the common search engine. Technological solutions developed in the different projects will also be integrated into the specific development of the MediMedia project.

List of deliverables

List of participants

Name:
Organisation: Olympus Software Europe GmbH
Address: 14-16, Wendenstrasse D-20097 Hamburg
Country: Germany
Tel: +49-40-23 77 34 11
Fax: +49-40-23 77 36 44
E-mail: olaf.zillmer@olympus-software.com
Name:
Organisation: European Association for Promotion of Multimedia in Medicine MEDIMEDIA
Address: Gastroenterology Unit CHU Rangueil F-31403 Toulouse Cédex 04
Country: France
Tel: +33-561 32 24 52
Fax: +33-561 32 22 29
E-mail: 106521.3337@compuserve.com
Name:
Organisation: Centre Hospitalier Régional et Universitaire de Toulouse
Address: Gastroenterology Unit CHU Rangueil F-31403 Toulouse Cédex 04
Country: France
Tel: +33-561 32 24 52
Fax: +33-561 32 22 29
E-mail: 106521.3337@compuserve.com
Name:
Organisation: Allgemeines Krankenhaus Altona
Address: 1, Paul Ehrlichstrasse D-22763 Hamburg
Country: Germany
Tel: +49-40-88 22 12 00
Fax: +49-40-88 22 49 02
Name:
Organisation: Istituto Regina Elena
Address: Viale Regina Elena, 291 I-00161 Roma
Country: Italy
Tel: +39-6-445 28 72
Fax: +39-6-808 83 24
Name:
Organisation: Hospital Valle d’Hebron
Address: ) Hospital Valle d'Hebron Paseo Valle d'Hebron 08035 Barcelona
Country: Spain
Tel: 00-34-3-489 30 00
Fax: 00-34-3-428 03 71
Name:
Organisation: Advanced Engineering Technology S.r.l.
Address: Viale Mosto, 4 I-16146 Genoa
Country: Italy
Tel: +39-10-3774810
Fax: +39-10-3776518
E-mail: franco.fontana@aetnet.it
Name:
Organisation: University of Florence
Address: Dipartimento di Fisiopatologia Clinica, (Public University) Viale Morgagni,85 I-50100 Florence
Country: Italy
Tel: +39-55-4277264
Fax: +39-55-4379930
E-mail: biti@dfc.unifi.it
Name:
Organisation: University of Genoa
Address: Dipartimento di Ingegneria Biofisica ed Elettronica, (Public University) Viale Mosto, 4 I-16146 Genoa
Country: Italy
Tel: +39-10-3774810
Fax: +39-10-3776518
E-mail: franco.fontana@aetnet.it
Name:
Organisation: Compagnia Internazionale Tecniche di Elaborazione e Computers S.p.A
Address: Via Alessandro Farnese, 3 I-00192 Roma
Country: Italy
Tel: +39-6-321 66 93 / +39-338-724 75 45
Fax: +39-6-36 00 09 49
E-mail: gsalcito@mail.nexus.it
Name:
Organisation: Neuroware Ltd
Address: 24, Kofidou Street GR-14231 Athens
Country: Greece
Tel: +30-1-271 56 72
Fax: +30-1-271 99 43
E-mail: nikvas@neuro.ath.forthnet.gr
Name:
Organisation: De Monfort University
Address: The Gateway Leicester, LE1 9BH Leicestershire
Country: UK
Tel: +44-1908-83 49 31
Fax: +44-1908-83 49 48
E-mail: gc@dmu.ac.uk
Name:
Organisation: uk University of Rome “La Sapienza
Address: Piazzale Aldo Moro 5 I-00165 Rome
Country: Italy
Tel: +39-6-445 56 02
Fax: +39-6-449 02 43
E-mail: Passariello@axrma.uniroma1.it
Name:
Organisation: Gesellschaft für Medizintechnik und Organisation mbH
Address: Pauwelsstraße, 19 D-52074 Aachen
Country: Germany
Tel: +49-241-446 82 22
Fax: +49-241-446 82 29
E-mail: GEMETEC-AC@t-online.de
Name:
Organisation: RWTH Aachen/Lehrstuhl für Biomedizinische Technik – Helmholtz-Institut
Address: Pauwelsstraße, 20 D-52074 Aachen
Country: Germany
Tel: +49-241-80 76 26
Fax: +49-241-888 84 42
E-mail: radermacher@hia.rwth-aachen.de
Name:
Organisation: GMD – Forschungszentrum Informationstechnik GmbH
Address: Schloss Birlinghoven D-53754 Sankt Augustin
Country: Germany
Tel: +49-2241-14 21 41
Fax: +49-2241-14 20 65
E-mail: berlage@gmd.de
Name:
Organisation: Medizinische Einrichtungen der Universität Bonn
Address: Siegmund Freud Straße D-53105 Bonn
Country: Germany
Tel: +49-228-287 32 21
Fax: +49-228-287 33 60
E-mail: redel@gmd.de
Name:
Organisation: LUISS Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali Guido Carli
Address: Viale Pola, 12 I-00198 Roma
Country: Italy
Tel: +39-6-85 22 51
Fax: +39-6-884 47 34
E-mail: a.datri@caspur.it
Name:
Organisation: Libero Istituto Universitario Campus Bio-Medico
Address: Via Longoni, 83 I-00155 Roma
Country: Italy
Tel: +39-6-22 54 13 60
Fax: +39-6-22 54 14 56
E-mail: m.crudele@liucbm.it
Name:
Organisation: Universita’ Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. Centro di Ricerca per lo Sviluppo e la Valutazione Clinica dei Metodi Automatici in Ematolog
Address: Largo F. Vito 1 I-00167 Roma
Country: Italy
Tel: +39-6-301 39 09
Fax: +39-6-301 39 09
E-mail: md5044@mclink.it
Name:
Organisation: Perception, Raisonnement, ACTIon en Médecine SARL
Address: Le grand Sablon 4, Avenue de l’Obiou F-38700 , La Tronche
Country: France
Tel: +33-476 54 95 03
Fax: +33-476 03 75 21
E-mail: Jean-Marc.Lefebvre@praxim.fr
Name:
Organisation: Université Joseph Fourier
Address: Institut Albert Bonniot Faculté de Médecine 38706 La Tronche Cedex
Country: France
Tel: +33-476 54 95 06
Fax: +33-476 54 95 55
E-mail: philippe.cinquin@imag.fr
Name:
Organisation: Springer-Verlag GmbH & Co. KG
Address: Tiergartenstrasse, 17 D-69121 Heidelberg
Country: Germany
Tel: +49 -6221-48 74 81
Fax: +49-6221-48 71 54
E-mail: heilmann@springer.de
Name:
Organisation: PSUtec sprl
Address: 418, Avenue de Tervueren B-1150 Brussels
Country: Belgium
Tel: +32-75-803 801
Fax: +32-2-779 13 17
E-mail: psutec@mail.interpac.be
Name:
Organisation: PSUtec sprl
Address: 418, Avenue de Tervueren B-1150 Brussels
Country: Belgium
Tel: +32-75-803 801
Fax: +32-2-779 13 17
E-mail: psutec@mail.interpac.be

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