AN INTELLIGENT WORKSTATION FOR COMPUTER-AIDED DIAGNOSIS

Computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) involves a computerized analysis of rad iographs that is used as a ''second opinion'' by the radiologist. The approach presented incorporates computer vision and artificial intelli gence techniques and includes schemes for the analysis of lung nodules , interstitial infiltrates, and cardiomegaly seen on chest radiographs ; masses and clustered microcalcifications on mammograms; and stenoses and blood flow on angiograms. The demonstration of various CAD scheme s in chest radiography and mammography on a six-monitor workstation si mulates one possible clinical implementation of CAD in radiology. Whet her soft- or hard-copy display media are used, the radiologist can ref er to the CAD results and still use the original radiograph for the fi nal diagnosis. Although initial impressions of this simulated ''intell igent'' workstation are encouraging, CAD is still in a preliminary sta ge of development. Various methods for effectively and efficiently int egrating CAD into a clinical radiology department are being investigat ed.