Computer Mediated Communication of Medical Image Data: An Example from Cardiological Ultrasound Data

This paper dicusses a system that supports telecommunication of 3D cardiological ultrasound data sets of the human heart. The system enables the participating physicians to select arbitrary 2D views from a 3D ultrasound data set and simultaneously visualize additional information such as view orientation and “regions of interest” using a virtual heart model. Image and model can be annotated and stored together with view parameters as a “case description” in a central database for later access or be sent as a “multimedia Email” to a consultation partner.