TeleDICOM is a distributed application that allows a group of consultants to work interactively on a medical documentation in the form of graphic files showing the results of the patients. The actions taken by each of the participants in such a session are immediately distributed to other participants. Amongst others, they have the possibility of zooming and animating consulted documents, highlighting their parts, and using measurement tools as well as indicators. Files in DICOM format are the basic documents which are used during the consultation in the TeleDICOM application. It is possible, however, to attach files in general purpose formats such as JPEG, AVI, or GIF. What is more, TeleDICOM provides its participants with an integrated voice communication and the possibility to exchange text messages. This environment constitutes thus a unique combination of advanced applications displaying medical documents with an efficient environment that allows one to share a job and teleconferencing system. Due to confidential nature of patients’ personal data and results, much attention was paid to the application of appropriate security mechanisms in order to prevent interception or modification of data by unauthorized persons.
It was a very big challenge for those implementing the TeleDICOM system architecture to design it appropriately. TeleDICOM is an environment of modern computer architecture having very rich functionality. It uses many specialized software libraries. It was implemented in Microsoft. NET technology. Although it has already achieved a considerable degree of sophistication, its authors continuously consult medical experts in order to further extend its functionality.
Currently, TeleDICOM is used in a daily diagnosis of coronary findings between the John Paul II Cracow Specialist Hospital and 14 other medical centers from the Małopolska, Podkarpackie, Świętokrzyskie and Śląskie voivodships. It is further used by Polish and foreign students of the Jagiellonian University Medical College during classes.
TeleDICOM was repeatedly used at the conferences and workshops, mainly in the field of echocardiography for which it has a very powerful support. Since February 2010, interactive, echocardiographic sessions are held monthly with participants from across Poland. MD Andrew Gackowski is the moderator of these meetings (see the record of the previous sessions). Since December 2010, the application is also used in the network of the Polish American Heart Clinic.
News
Between the 27th and 28th of December 2010, several portals (including Onet, Wirtualna Polska, Gazeta Wyborcza) published information about the TeleDICOM system. We do believe that popularization of idea of remote medical consultation is to have a positive impact on the functioning of Health Services. We find the experience gained during operation of the system extremely valuable, therefore, we plan to use it in the creation of the new version of application of the IT-SOA project.
November 19, 2010 the first open, free of charge consultation will be held by experts of the John Paul II Cracow Specialist Hospital in Krakow. All interested physicians are again invited to participate in the program.
In mid-November 2010, John Paul II Cracow Specialist Hospital will begin free remote consulting services in cardiology. TeleDICOM application will be used for the conduct of teleconsultations. Consultation between experts and those ordering it can be conducted in an interactive or non-interactive form. DICOM is the preferred format of imaging results (such as echocardiography, magnetic resonance, computed tomography). All interested practitioners are invited to participate in the program. For further information, please contact us at teledicom@ics.agh.edu.pl.
Department of Computer Science,
AGH-UST itself