CORBA-based architecture for image workflow in a large consortium of hospitals

Technology advances in digital imaging modalities and high speed network have enabled physicians to store digital medical images and integrate them with a patient's text information for fast access by computer. The Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) is an archival system for digital medical images. It can deliver images to a physician through user friendly interfaces for interpretation, diagnosis and study. While these technology advances support a large-scale filmless environment in radiology departments, they do not adequately support workflow management. Thus they have very limited use for streamline, automated, and monitoring processes. The paper presents the characteristics and system requirements of an Image Workflow Management System (IWFMS) in a large-scale consortium of hospitals. The paper outlines a run-time object oriented architecture for the implementation of IWFMS. This system is general purpose, open and consists of three layers: coordination, service and tasks. The components in each layer have been designed and implemented as a set of CORBA services that provides seamless integration of flexible high level CORBA distributed object computing middleware with low level image data management.