Ginkgo CADx: Open Source DICOM CADx Environment

Carlos Barrales, Diego Morate, and Javier Velasco | Kitware Blog | April 20, 2012

Ginkgo CADx [1] is a multi-platform, open core medical visualization and image-based diagnosis framework designed for specialists, practitioners, and physicians. Developed by MetaEmotion Healthcare [2], this framework provides an end-user friendly interface and extensible application for visualizing DICOM [3] studies, diagnoses, and creation of new DICOM studies.

The main input source for the application is DICOM series/studies, especially on non-radiology images based on specific workflows under IHE specifications.

Integration workflows provide formal and effective guidelines for the clinical pathway, which is the major gap we intend to fill. Without going into any technical details, a generic workflow could be summarized in five simple steps:

1. An appointment is scheduled or implicitly requested.
2. Ginkgo CADx generates or consumes the data.
3. Ginkgo CADx produces the output: Aided derived images, enhance, registration, automatic diagnose candidate or metadata.
4. The trial is reported.
5. The trial is stored and linked in the medical history.

Image integration is a mature deployment in radiology environments, where almost any image produced and consumed is integrated using HL7 and DICOM standards. Ginkgo CADx is willing to provide these workflows in other environments such as ophthalmology, dermatology, cardiology, pathological anatomy, etc...