Role of digital image in telemedicine

8/12/2019 Role of digital image in telemedicine

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Role of Digital Image Processingin Telemedicine

T. Kalaiselvi1, K. Somasundaram

2and P. Kumarashankar

3

Department of Computer Science and Applications,Gandhigram Rural Institute, Deemed University, Gandhigram6!"#, $amil %adu, India e&

mail'()alaivpd*gmail+com,

somasundaram)*yahoo+com,

"p)umarashan)ar*gmail+com

AbstractIn this paper we have

discussed about thegrowth of telemedicine

and teleradiology in India. We have also

discussed about the possibility of saving

storage space and bandwidth while

sending MRI scan images over the network

for telemedicine purposes. We have come

up with an index to compare the optimized

storage space usage and bandwidth while

transmitting the images. We have done thisusing the datasets used by our previous

work. This article is a continuation of our

previous work in further enhancing the role

the image processing in teleradiology. We

have also discussed about the various

telemedicine proects in India and the

various organizations! both government

and private entities that have involved in

taking telemedicine to the remote areas of

India. We have briefly discussed the usage

and benefits of cloud computing in the field

of telemedicine"teleradiology.

Keywords: Digital Image Processing,

MRI head scans, Teleradiology,

Telemedicine, Medical Imaging,

Telemedicine in India, Cloud Comuting in

Teleradiology!

I. ITR!D"#TI!

Telemedicine is the $ractice ofgiving clinical care to $eo$le at adistance %ho don&t have the $rivilegeof getting s$eciali'ed care in their$lace. It&s a (oon to the humanit) ()modern science and technolog).Telemedicine can (e categori'ed like*#ollecting the data from the $atientsand sending to medical e+$erts foroffline assessment -onitor the healthconditions of the $atients remotel)using technological devices Interactiveservices $roviding interaction (et%eenthe medical officer and the $atientsthrough $hone or onlinecommunications.

Teleradiolog) is the $rocess of

transmitting the clinical images from one

location to another in %ant of e+$ert

o$inion from other radiologists and

$h)sicians. The gro%th of radiologist

$o$ulation does not

meet the gro%th of

imaging $rocedures

and hence teleradiolog)

$la)s a vital role at this

uncture. In situations

%here su( s$ecialists

are needed,

teleradiolog) ensures

that there is 2/0availa(ilit). This makes

use of s$eciali'ed

soft%are to transmit the

medical images through

internet and other

net%orks. The latest

addition to this list is

#loud com$uting.

Image $rocessing and

com$ression are often

used in teleradiolog).

These are used to

ensure that onl) slices

of interest are sent to

the s$ecialists insteadof sending all the

information thus saving

the cost and (and%idth.

The gro%th of

technolog) in the

medical imaging and

telecommunications

has created a

revolution in field of

teleradiolog).

II.T-DI#I IIDI4

India is a forerunner in the field ofinformationtechnolog). o% it is

emerging as a $o$ularhu( for medicaltourism given the factthat varioustreatments in India aremuch chea$er %hencom$ared to othercountries in the %orld.#onsidering all thesefacts India canemerge as a cloudcom$uting hu( for$roviding services inthe medical sector$articularl) in the field

of teleradiolog) %herethe re5uirements for

s$ecialists isa(undant.

#onsidering the

geogra$hical

com$le+it) of India and

its $o$ulation

distri(ution, it is a

herculean task to

$rovide health care to

most of its $eo$le %ho

live in remote villages.

6aving most of its

medical s$ecialists%orking in metros,

there are onl) ver) little

o$tions to $rovide

health care to remote

areas. There are

various government

agencies and 7!s

%hich setu$ occasional

health care


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$rogrammes throughout the countr)

%hich do ver) l ittle to the Indian

communit).

4t this uncture telemedicine is %hat

seems to (e a (oon to the Indian health

care industr). 7iven the advancements of

technolog) in telecommunications in

India, this seems to (e a doa(le o( inthe ne+t 18 to 29 )ears. 4s a first ste$ of

$roviding health care to remote areas,

the "nion government has introduced

am(ulance services at door ste$ %hich is

%ell im$lemented in most of the states.

Some of the states like 7uarat have

come u$ %ith $lans to setu$ call centres

%ith $aramedics to suggest $rimar)

actions to (e taken in case of an

emergenc). The 4$ollo Telemedicine

et%orking :oundation has tied u$ %ith

the 7overnment of

7uarat to create

mo(ile telemedicine

facilities kee$ing in

mind the disaster

caused due to the

natural calamities ;1


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Role of Digital Image Processing in Telemedicine 13

forerunners in

$roviding

telemedicinefacilities

starting from

as earl) as

1>> ;2


4/8

some $atientinformationso as torelate them tothecorres$onding $atient. The5ualit) of the

image shouldnot (ecom$romisedto include thisinformation inthe images.The $atientinformationcould (eencr)$tedand sentalong %ith theimage. Theencr)$tedPR shouldnot occu$)more s$aceas the s$aceavaila(leoutside theregion ofinterest isver) less.

The data

of the $atientsare ca$tured

electronicall)

instead of

traditional

$a$er records.

These records

are saved inthe com$uter

s)stems and

could (e

shared across

geogra$hical

areas so as to

get o$inionsfrom various

medicalofficers. This

$rocess has

so man)

(enefits and at

the same time

it has some$ractical

difficulties in

some

countries like

India %here

multi$le

languagesare s$oken.-ulti lingualsu$$ort forforms isneeded inthesescenarios inorder to$rovideservice to alarger grou$.

IC.#!"D#!-P"TI7 4D#"STRI7

In

teleradiolog)

%hen

information has

to (e ke$t

confidential, it

is mandator)

that there is

restricted

access and at

the same time

%e have to

ensure that

necessar)

details are

availa(le to the

telemedicine

a$$lication

users. Seeing it

from the

$ers$ective of

using com$uter

clouds, the

telemedicine

service

$roviders have

access to the

details of man)

$atients. This

is an

advantage for

the service

$roviders, as

the) can grou$

similar cases

together in thus

reducing the

%ait time for

e+$ertsB4

s$ecialist can

identif) a

common

treatment

$rocedure for a

grou$ of similar

cases, or a

s$ecialist can

access the

treatment

$rocedure of a

similar case

that has

occurred in the$ast. Thus

s$ecialists do

not have to

s$end more

time in

designing a

ne% treatment

$rocedure.

This grou$ing

of similar cases

is called as

#lustering ; > 11 1>998// 29H> 3H

8 v98 2/ 3 8 182H/ 32H9 21

v9 2/ 12 1/ 182H/ >189/ 8H

v9 2 H 1>/2 82/2HH 2>

H v9H 2/ 11 13 182H/ H81>H 8/CI.#!#"SI!

#urrentl)%e are in the

$rocess ofdevelo$ing asim$lealgorithm thatcould (e usedto encr)$t thePR that issent along%ith -RI scanimages.Teleradiolog)has a high$otential as a(usiness.Carious otherfactors like,internetconnectivit),scan centresand otherlogistics havea sa) in itssuccess.

R#S

[1] 4$olloTelemedicineet%orking:oundationB

Ke)Proects,4vaila(le*htt$*00%%%.telemedicineindia.com0Ke)Proects.htm

[2] SriRamachandra -edical#enterBTelemedicine, 4vaila(le*htt$*00%%%.sr

iramachandra.edu.in0telemedicine.htm [3] K.

Somasundaram andT.Kalaiselvi,4utomaticArain+traction-ethods for T1-agneticResonanceImagesusingRegiona(eling and-or$hological!$erationsJ,#om$uters inAiolog)and-edicine, Col./1, $$.1B28,

2911.

[4] K.Somasundaram andT.Kalaiselvi,:ull)4utomaticArain+traction4lgorithm for4+ialT2GEeighted-agneticResonanceImagesJ,#om$uters inAiolog)and-edicine, Col./9, $$.H11BH22,

2919.

[5] K.Somasundaram andT.Kalaiselvi,:ull)4utomatic-ethodtoIdentif)4(normal-RI6eadScansusing:u'')#lassificationand:u'')S)mmetric-easureJ,Internationalournalon7ra$hics,Cisionand

ImageProcessing?I#7STG7CIP@,Col. 19,o. 3,$$.1B>,2919.

[6] K.Somasundaram andT.Kalaiselvi,Segmentation of

ArainPortionfrom-RI of6eadScansusingKG-eans#lusterJ,4cce$ted inInternational


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ournal of#om$utatio

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Role of digital image in telemedicine