Digital X-Ray Library: A New Concept in Radiology Education

A digital X-ray library system is vital for an academic radiology department. Existing commercial solutions for creating image collections are often not suitable for radiologic applications. For these reasons, we developed our own digital archive system and image collection database system. We chose a database development tool that allows rapid design and development of multimedia, user-friendly programs supporting Web-based applications. With this software, we developed the three main functions of our system: a. Data import function fully integrated with our different modalities. b. Data editing by means of simple and powerful management software, which is connected to the database server remotely. c. Data sharing and distribution on the viewing stations with the ability to create stand-alone CD-ROMs and with a Web server for online access by using any Web browser. The system implemented was adopted by all of our department members, and the growth of database content was clear evidence of the success and acceptance of the system by the users. Storage of selected interesting cases in the image databases will become a natural and common trend among our radiologists during their daily clinical routine.