TRENCADIS - A grid architecture for creating virtual repositories of DICOM objects in an OGSA-based ontological framework

Abstract

The creation of virtual repositories of medical data is a very important challenge to ease collaboration, research and training among medical organisations. However, there are. several technical and legal problems, such as efficient large data distribution, privacy protection, post-processing and knowledge management. The TRENCADIS project is aiming at the development of an infrastructure able to tackle with such problems using Grid Technologies. This article presents the Grid Software Architecture developed, which is implemented on top of the OGSA specification and defines the mechanisms to create virtual repositories of DICOM objects. It integrates different repositories providing a single-database virtual view through high-level components. The TRENCADIS architecture proposes the use of ontologies and templates to organise the DICOM data of Structured Reports. The TRENCADIS architecture is being used for the development of a cyberinfraestructure for medical imaging on oncology in the land of Valencia, with the participation of seven hospitals. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2006.