Displaying radiologic images on personal computers: Practical applications and uses

Abstract

This is the fifth and final article in our series for radiologists and imaging scientists on displaying, manipulating, and analyzing radiologic images on personal computers (PCs). There are many methods of transferring radiologic images into a PC, including transfer over a network, transfer from an imaging modality storage archive, using a frame grabber in the image display console, and digitizing a radiograph or 35-mm slide. Depending on the transfer method, the image file may be an extended gray-scale contrast, 16-bit raster file or an 8-bit PC graphics file. On the PC, the image can be viewed, analyzed, enhanced, and annotated. Some specific uses and applications include making 35-mm slides, printing images for publication, making posters and handouts, facsimile (fax) transmission to referring clinicians, converting radiologic images into medical illustrations, creating a digital teaching file, and using a network to disseminate teaching material. We are distributing a 16-bit image display and analysis program for Macintosh computers, Dr Razz, that illustrates many of the principles discussed in this review series. The program is available for no charge by anonymous file transfer protocol (ftp).

Automated Computational Processing of 3‐D MR Images of Mouse Brain for Phenotyping of Living Animals

“…Settings for each of these parameters can differ between images, and prior to further processing they must be made uniform across all images in a particular dataset. The bit size is important as it determines how many possible intensity values can be recorded in the image (Gillespy et al, 1994; Gillespy and Rowberg, 1993). …”

Proper use of common image file formats in handling radiological images

“…The following sections review the most common image file formats, which are bitmap (BMP, JPEG, GIF, DICOM, TIFF, PNG) [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8].…”

DicomWorks: Software for Reviewing DICOM Studies and Promoting Low-cost Teleradiology

“…Images are retrieved using DicomWorks' built-in POP client that filters messages addresses to its specific BUSERID^(fixed and encrypted in local preferences), or to BALL.^Reviewing is performed using DicomWorks viewing tools. A simple BAnswer^button is available to send a response (that may contain a reference JPEG image) to the original sender (9). protocol and display the images immediately, leaving other messages on the server.…”

“…Its distribution is facilitated by an exemption from payment and a simple and localized interface. Our experience as radiologists led us to include some original features that professional PACS solutions or other open-source/ free applications 3,8,9 did not provide and could be an obstacle for many, such as opening a CD-ROM with a single mouse click, showing the patients list and the images simultaneously to avoid window manipulations, viewing two series simultaneously and synchronize them, exporting images to digital presentation software (such as Microsoft PowerPoint) in a few steps, editing DICOM tags, sending annotated images by e-mail, or just creating a new CD-ROM of an anonymized study. Surprisingly, these functions were as well appreciated by clinicians (cardiologists, neurologists, surgeons, pathologists, and dermatologists) as by radiologists (Table 1), and this pointed out the interest of a simple and localized program for clinicians, who do not read studies like radiologists and need a simple, familiar, and localized interface, instead of multiple different ones like those they find on DICOM CDs.…”