Distributing medical images with Internet technologies: A DICOM Web serverand a DICOM Java viewer

With the advent of filmless radiology, it becomes important to be able to d istribute radiologic images digitally throughout an entire hospital. A new approach based on World Wide Web technologies was developed to accomplish t his objective. This approach involves a Web server that allows the query an d retrieval of images stored in a Digital Imaging and Communications in Med icine (DICOM) archive. The images can be viewed inside a Web browser with u se of a small Java program known as the DICOM Java Viewer, which is execute d inside the browser. The system offers several advantages over more tradit ional picture archiving and communication systems (PACS): It is easy to ins tall and maintain, is platform independent, allows images to be manipulated and displayed efficiently, and is easy to integrate with existing systems that are already making use of Web technologies. The system is user-friendl y and can easily be used from outside the hospital if a security policy is in place. The simplicity and flexibility of Internet technologies makes the m highly preferable to the more complex PACS workstations, The system works well, especially with magnetic resonance and computed tomographic images, and can help improve and simplify interdepartmental relationships in a film less hospital environment.