Abstract: A system for pre-fetching in a medical imaging and archiving platform a subset of comparison medical studies in relation to an active medical study includes a medical study database to store medical studies; a relevancy rule database to store relevancy rules that express relevancy of a comparison medical study in view of an active medical study; a relevancy rule manager enabling to define the relevancy rules; and a relevancy rule engine to select for the active medical study applicable relevancy rules from the relevancy rule database, and to apply the selected relevancy rules to pre-fetch the subset of comparison medical studies. The relevancy rules include enhanced relevancy rules using contextual information stored in a medical report, an order, or procedure information that forms part of the medical studies.

Abstract: A process for producing 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-1,4,7,10-tetraacetic acid (DOTA) including salts and hydrates thereof of general formula (I) from the respective cyclen. The process involves the use of cationic- and anionic exchange resins and solvent treatments to remove the organic and inorganic contaminants. Any cations present in the raw DOTA or other contaminants resulting from the reaction of cyclen are largely reduced in early stages of the process allowing to obtain good yields of DOTA in a purified grade and in an easier and reliable way. The process is useful for the production of DOTA, of macrocyclic compounds including metal ions complexes thereof and of compositions including the macrocyclic compounds that can be used as contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging.

Abstract: A method to extract irradiation field areas in an X-ray image represented by a digital signal representation comprising the steps of segmenting the image in multiple regions of pixels which have similar local image characteristics, fitting line segments to the boundaries of these regions whereby said line segments correspond with candidate irradiation field boundaries and constitute a segmentation map, classifying regions in said segmentation map into at least two classes, one class being irradiation field and the other class being collimated region on the basis of at least one of local, regional and global image characteristics.

Abstract: A method, an apparatus, and a system label one or more parts of a spine in an image, in particular a computed tomography (CT) image, of a human or animal body, and in order to achieve a reliable spine labeling and a high throughput of images, match a model of a spine segment with segments of the spine in the image by starting matching the model of a spine segment with an initial segment of the spine in the image, wherein the initial segment of the spine in the image is located at an initial position along the spine in the image, and continue to match the model of a spine segment with one or more further segments of the spine in the image, wherein the further segments of the spine in the image are located at positions farther along the spine in the image.

Abstract: A method and a corresponding apparatus and system localizes a spine in an image, in particular a computed tomography (CT) image, of a human or animal body, allowing for a reduced need for computational power and/or memory on the one hand and assuring a reliable localization of the spine on the other hand. The method includes a) acquiring a plurality of slice images of at least a part of a human or animal body, and b) automatically selecting slice images and/or parts of slice images from the acquired plurality of slice images by considering at least one parameter (?z, ?z, ?z, ?z) characterizing a distribution of bones in the acquired slice images, wherein the selected slice images and/or parts of the slice images includes image information about the spine.

Abstract: An image is segmented by subjecting the image to an iterative thresholding operation, and a hierarchical representation of clusters is obtained by analyzing the results of each of the iterative thresholding steps to find clusters of adjacent image elements. A type class is assigned to a leaf cluster of the hierarchical representation and the assigned class is propagated towards the top of the hierarchical representation. Then a mask is generated marking the locations of image elements contained in the top ancestral clusters of a specific type.

Abstract: A method of generating a bone and a soft tissue image of an object includes a dual energy radiography technique wherein weight parameters for calculating these images as a weighted sum of a low energy image PL and a high energy image PH are deduced from a ratio image Log(Pn)/Log(PL).

Abstract: The present invention concerns a method for the treatment of stimulable phosphors and/or screens for use in diagnosis, in particular medical radiography. The method comprises subjecting the stimulable phosphors and/or screens to an epoxide containing gaseous compound, promptly following their manufacture. By applying the method according to the invention yellowing of the stimulable phosphors and/or screens is prevented in a safe and efficient manner; thereby the disadvantages known as such resulting from such yellowing will not occur.

Abstract: A method and device for reading out X-ray image information stored in a storage phosphor layer with a stimulating light beam includes deflecting the stimulating light beam to alternately move it in a first direction and in a second direction, opposite to the first direction, across the storage phosphor layer. During the movements of the stimulating light beam in the first direction and the second direction, detection emission light emitted by the storage phosphor layer and converting them into corresponding first and second detector signals, respectively. The first and second detector signals are compared with each other. The first and/or second detector signals, which were obtained during the movements of the stimulating light beam across the storage phosphor layer in the first direction and second direction, respectively, are corrected dependent on the results of the comparison.

Abstract: A computing device is disclosed for securely sharing restricted content. The computing device includes a memory storing computer readable instructions, and one or more processors configured to execute the computer readable instructions. The computer readable instructions configure the one or more processors to, collectively, receive a share request to share the restricted content; in response to the share request, encode a link with encrypted access information, the access information including a first password and identifying the restricted content; receive an access request for access to the restricted content from a client device executing the link, the access request including the encrypted access information; receive a second password from the client device in association with the access request; and grant the client device access to the restricted content in response to determining the first password matches the second password. A method and a computer readable medium are also disclosed.

Abstract: A method and system of aligning plurality of physically scaled mammography images within at least one viewport comprising: categorizing each mammography image to a corresponding mammography view; determining the image dimensions of each image based on the pixel spacing; choosing a first mammography image for each mammographic view based on the image dimensions; centering the first mammography image of each mammographic view within the at least one viewport; generating a virtual line across the at least one viewport along a boundary of the first mammography image; and aligning subsequent mammography images of the same mammographic view such that a boundary of the mammography image is aligned to the virtual line.

Abstract: A process for producing 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-1,4,7,10-tetraacetic acid (DOTA) including salts and hydrates thereof of general formula (I) from the respective cyclen. The process involves the use of cationic- and anionic exchange resins and solvent treatments to remove the organic and inorganic contaminants. Any cations present in the raw DOTA or other contaminants resulting from the reaction of cyclen are largely reduced in early stages of the process allowing to obtain good yields of DOTA in a purified grade and in an easier and reliable way. The process is useful for the production of DOTA, of macrocyclic compounds including metal ions complexes thereof and of compositions including the macrocyclic compounds that can be used as contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging.

Abstract: A method for wireless communication between a direct radiographic panel and a radiographic workstation includes a processor of the direct radiographic panel detecting the quality of a wireless connection with a reception unit of a radiographic workstation and, in function of the result, deciding to either store the radiographic images in its memory or to forward them. A direct radiographic panel is provided with means for implementing this method.

Abstract: A method of using a semantic web data source in a target application includes the target application calling the application program interface of a bridge component, and the bridge component retrieves the required data from the semantic web data source, translates the retrieved data semantically and syntactically to reflect the meaning and syntax of the target application, and returns the translated data in the format of the target application.

Abstract: An offset of an actual positional relationship of a radiation source and an object from a reference positional relationship is determined and taken into account when positioning and/or tilting and/or collimating the radiation source so as to irradiate a region of interest of the object.

Abstract: A method, apparatus, and system for reliably identifying a specific part of a spine in an image of a human or animal body, includes the steps of determining one or more parts of the spine in the image, determining one or more discriminative parameters for each of the one or more parts of the spine in the image, the discriminative parameters relating to at least one anatomical property of each of the one or more parts of the spine, classifying the discriminative parameters of the one or more parts of the spine in the image, and identifying a specific part of the spine based on the classification of the discriminative parameters of the one or more parts of the spine in the image. An identified vertebra, in particular the T12 vertebra and/or its associated intervertebral discs, can be used advantageously as a starting point of powerful automatic spine labeling algorithms.

Abstract: A method and a corresponding system for optical coherence tomography acquires a first image in a region of a first plane of an object by optical coherence tomography equipment, and the first image is displayed on a display device. To facilitate a reliable and time-saving examination with straightforward handling, a second plane of the object is selected on the basis of the first image that is displayed on the display device, wherein the second plane of the object is different from the first plane of the object, and a second image is acquired in the region of the selected second plane of the object by the optical coherence tomography equipment.

Abstract: A system and method of retrieving metadata, the method comprising: in response to a request from a client for metadata for a set of DICOM instances, loading n DICOM instances of the set of requested DICOM instances; comparing the metadata of the n loaded DICOM instances; generating a common set of values based on the comparison of the n loaded DICOM instances; streaming the common set of values to the client; determining per-instance data for each of the n loaded DICOM instances, the per-instance data being a difference between the metadata of a DICOM instance and the common set of values; transmitting the per-instance data of the loaded DICOM instances to the client; loading additional DICOM instances of the set of requested DICOM instances; determining per-instance data for each of the additional DICOM instances; and transmitting the per-instance data of the additional DICOM instances to the client.

Abstract: Method of generating radiation images of an elongate body by applying different computer-implemented stitching methods to the same set of partial radiation images. A warning is generated in case of substantial deviation between the applied stitching methods.

Abstract: In a method to enhance the contrast of spatially-localized phenomena in an image such as microcalcifications in a mammogram, a multi-scale decomposition is applied to a digital signal representation of the image thereby generating a number of detail images at different scales, the detail signals pertaining to the spatially-localized phenomena having a common polarity (either negative or positive) being modified at at least one scale.