CHICAGO - GE Medical Systems Information Technologies announced this week the introduction of TruRez, a lossless progressive image transmission technique designed to improve the transfer of medical images around the healthcare enterprise. TruRez is part of a package of new enhancements that the multimodality vendor is introducing at this week’s RSNA meeting.
As interest in large-scale PACS grows, healthcare institutions still face the dilemma of providing images to low-resolution clinical workstations over low-bandwidth networks. This bottleneck has sparked the introduction of several progressive image transmission products, which enable PACS users to begin working with images before an entire data file has been transferred.
GE believes its new TruRez technique can help. TruRez includes a combination of integer wavelet transforms and lossless compression to allow users of Web-based thin-client computers to view images at their true resolution, according to the Waukesha, WI-based vendor. In addition, GE claims that TruRez optimizes data transmission based on bandwidth and workstation viewer capabilities.
Once image data is accepted into a PACS network from the imaging modality, TruRez converts the image into a wavelet file format. A lossless Huffman encoding format is then applied on the wavelet file, storing the compressed images at a lossless 3:1 ratio, according to Vishal Wanchoo, vice president and general manager of radiology systems at GE.
When an image is requested from the PACS network, TruRez optimizes the size of the image to meet the bandwidth and viewing capabilities of the requestor, Wanchoo said. For example, if a referring physician wanted to view a digital chest image on his or her 1280 x 1024 monitor, TruRez would transmit approximately 200 kilobytes -- the image data necessary to fill the viewing space with the appropriate image quality, he said.
"By employing 3:1 compression, we can then transmit the image in three or four seconds over a T1 line," Wanchoo said. "And when a radiologist or a referring physician wants to look at a larger view, we transfer only the additional data that’s required to present it."
Since TruRez is integrated directly into GE’s PathSpeed PACS software, customers don’t have to invest in extra hardware such as another Web server, Wanchoo said. In addition, referring physicians using GE’s WebLink thin-client software can access the same image data sets that the radiologist was using, including the window/level settings, as well as notes, annotations, or any studies the radiologist has marked as clinically relevant, he said.
"What you’re trying to do for the referring physician is present them with the output of what the radiologist does during the soft-copy reading process," Wanchoo said.
GE has filed a patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for TruRez, which has been in development for over a year. In future plans, GE expects to bring TruRez to the diagnostic radiology workstation realm, allowing radiologists to gain speed and performance benefits, Wanchoo said.
If a healthcare institution doesn’t have a PACS installed, GE could also provide TruRez as part of a standalone Web server, Wanchoo said.
TruRez is the keynote introduction in version 8.1 of GE’s PathSpeed software, being showcased at this week’s RSNA meeting. Other 8.1 introductions include active system management (ASM), an online remote PACS management approach. With ASM, the customer is permanently linked to GE’s online customer service centers with a frame relay or T1 connection, Wanchoo said. This allows for software agents running on every PACS component to notify the support center if there’s a problem, he said.
In other GE RSNA introductions, the firm is showcasing integrated speech recognition on its workstations with products from Talk Technology and Lernout & Hauspie. An orthopedic template package has also been added, as has expanded 3-D capabilities, Wanchoo said.
In RIS developments, GE is showing integration with RIS software from IDX Systems, as well as further integration efforts with partner Cerner (featuring a single PACS and RIS user interface), Wanchoo said. In addition, GE is also displaying integration with Medora, a RIS the company markets in Europe.
GE also has added back-end enhancements to PathSpeed, including support for advanced intelligent tape (AIT) media and incorporation of redundant database servers, Wanchoo said. The company also announced that three sites have implemented its application service provider (ASP) model for PACS.
PathSpeed 8.1 is expected to begin shipping in the first quarter, Wanchoo said. GE hopes to bring TruRez to diagnostic workstations by the third or fourth quarter of 2001.
By Erik L. Ridley
AuntMinnie.com staff writer
November 26, 2000
Related Reading
GE forms new company to integrate healthcare information systems, September 1, 2000
GE readies launch of PACS application service provider program, July 19, 2000
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