DEVELOPMENT OF A MULTIMEDIAL FILING SYSTEM FOR AN ENDOSCOPY UNIT

The rapid technological development of biomedical instruments, and of hardware and software systems is giving new opportunities in the manag ement of medical activities. We have developed a multimedial filing sy stem for an Endoscopy Unit which, thanks to its versatility, is also s uitable for other medical branches. The system is built on a database, and includes clinical records of patients together with endoscopic pi ctures and vocal comments for each case. It was developed by using ''M icrosoft Windows 3.1(R)'' programming and is directly connected to the videoendoscopes. The system operates in a ''Novell Netware'' network. Future fields of interests are reported with regard to: a) image proc essing procedures that can be applied; b) other types of images that c an be stored such as radiological, echographic images, etc.; c) transm ission of information and a global multimedial filing system serving t he entire hospital; and d) a written report, including the endoscopic images of the disease.