New Software Facilitates Mining of Image Data

Images stored on PACS networks contain a veritable treasure trove of information that could be invaluable in research and clinical practice. To gain easier access to those nuggets, researchers from Luxembourg have developed a software framework that facilitates data mining from DICOM image headers.

The first application developed to utilize the group's Performance and Monitoring Server (PerMoS) enabled the calculation of national CT dose values for six standard multislice CT protocols from hospitals in Luxembourg. PerMoS has also yielded improved data quality and time savings compared to paper-based analysis, according to Johannes Hermen of the Centre de Recherche Public Henri Tudor (CR SANTEC).

"The software is very powerful and flexible," he said. "It has proven scalability [having been used] in about 1,000 patients and 500,000 images from eight hospitals..."

...PerMoS is based on the open-source JBoss application server, JBoss Enterprise Java Bean 3 (EJB3) architecture, and PostgreSQL database....