A WORLD-WIDE-WEB GATEWAY TO THE RADIOLOGIC LEARNING FILE

Rationale and Objectives. Computer networks in generalt and the Intern et specifically. are changing the way information is manipulated in th e world at large and in radiology. The goal of this project was to dev elop a computer system in which images from the Radiologic Learning Fi le, available previously only via a single-user laser disc. are made a vailable over a generic, high-availability computer network to many po tential users simultaneously. Methods. Using a networked workstation i n our laboratory and freely available distributed hypertext software. we established a World Wide Web (WWW) information server for radiology . Images from the Radiologic Learning File are requested through the W WW client software digitized from a single laser disc containing the e ntire leaching file and then transmitted over the network to the clien t. The text accompanying each image is incorporated into the transmitt ed document. Results. The Radiologic Learning File is now on-line. and requests to view the cases result in the delivery of the text and ima ges, image digitization via a frame grabber takes 1/30th of a second. Conversion of the image to a standard computer graphic format takes 45 -60 sec. Text and image transmission speed on a local area network var ies between 200 and 400 kilobytes (KB) per second depending on the net work load. Conclusion. We have made images from a laser disc of the Ra diologic Learning File available through an Internet-based hypertext s erver. The images previously available through a single-user system lo cated in a remote section of our department are non ubiquitously avail able throughout our department via the department's computer network. We have thus converted a single-user, limited functionality system int o a multiuser widely available resource.