<title>Breaking the bottleneck: high-speed medical image transmission through ATM network--implementation and application</title>

Abstract

In this paper, Georgetown University Medical Center's (GUMC) experience with utilizing ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) technology in a telemedicme application will be presented. This application involves 3-D radiation treatment planning where radiological imaging, calculation of the treatment plan, and 3-D display all take place at different sites. To do this, GUMC must exchange large amounts of radiology images and data with other institutions in real time. A high speed network consisting of an ATM infrastructure and satellite links was created to connect seamlessly the three sites, GUMC, University of Hawaii(UH), and Ohio Supercomputing Center(OSC), which are thousands of miles apart. This paper studies the performance of the ATM network between GUMC and Goddani Space Flight Center (GSFC), which provides sateffite service to link partners in this project.The steps required to test and evaluate the ATM system will be presented. A performance comparison between ATM and Internet-LAN connections will be featured in the presentation. In particular, the theoretical speed of 155 Mbps is hard to reach due to the lack of ATM-native protocols in the transport level of the communication structure.

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“… 346 – 352 A second issue was the lack of availability of digital images to those needing them outside of radiology. 353 , 354 Workstation requirements for very large PACS implementations 355 and networking bottlenecks 356 , 357 were also problematic. Eliot Siegel, Bruce Reiner, et al at the Baltimore VA Medical Center described their experience with PACS, 358 and multiple experiences with teleradiology were detailed.…”

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“…Teleradiology services were offered utilizing PACS. 51 Workstation requirements for very large PACS implementations 52 were expensive and networking bottlenecks 53 were also problematic for early installations. Management and maintenance of systems were performed by highly trained high salaried personnel within radiology departments.…”