A system to support the integrated management of diagnostic medical images

Abstract

Information systems are essential tools supporting the management of hospital organizations. The demand for availability and integration of data in this field is more and more increasing, basically for absolving two key issues: collecting and merging all the elementary data available for a patient during the hospitalization process, so that physicians and other operators get all the necessary information they need during the process; planning the development of the diagnostic activities/therapeutics to optimize the process. In this perspective, we present a system that integrates a booking subsystem for hospital specialized treatments booking (CUP), a subsystem for the management of the hospitalizations (including First Aid Departments), a subsystem for filing and reporting clinical images, a subsystem for the analysis of radiological images in a unique management environment. Therefore we describe a complete system for the management of an archive of digital dossiers for the patients of a hospital, where diagnostic imaging is a central issue. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.