Distributed measurement and reporting system for surgical planning

The recent diffusion of web technologies in medical environments is deeply changing the work of radiologists and surgeons, allowing them to store and retrieve patient information, images but also reports and elaborated data. Among elaborated data, 3D reconstructions are becoming more popular because they allow, for example, a precise evaluation of the geometry of organs thus making the measurements necessary for surgical planning easier and more accurate. In this paper we describe the architecture of a service for 3D model quantitative evaluation, specialized to the analysis of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms. It is based on a centralized server that stores models images and measurement information and exchanges data with clients using web standards like XML, DICOM3 and VRML97 . This allows the secure exchange of heterogeneous data (images, 3D models and reports) that is necessary for complex applications. Furthermore, this arrangement ensures that each step of the complex medical and IT related procedure is performed by the most trained and expert personnel available, even if he/she is not at the end user location. Easy 3D model measurement and analysis is ensured by using VRML97 and External Authoring Interface [3]; standardization in patient data and report management is ensured using DICOM3 and XML.