ODIN: Adaptation of an HTML 5-Compatible DICOM Viewer for MIRC-TFS, Enhancing the Incorporation of Clinical Images into the Health Science Curriculum

Brent Burbridge; Connor Burbridge; John Costa; Yasmin Carter

doi:10.1007/s40670-018-00679-w

ODIN: Adaptation of an HTML 5-Compatible DICOM Viewer for MIRC-TFS, Enhancing the Incorporation of Clinical Images into the Health Science Curriculum

Med Sci Educ. 2019 Jan 3;29(1):11-17. doi: 10.1007/s40670-018-00679-w. eCollection 2019 Mar.

Authors

Brent Burbridge^{1

2}, Connor Burbridge³, John Costa⁴, Yasmin Carter⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medical Imaging, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK Canada.
² Medical Imaging, Royal University Hospital, 103 Hospital Drive, Saskatoon, SK S7N 0W8 Canada.
³ Global Institute for Food Security, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK Canada.
⁴ Information and Communications Technology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK Canada.
⁵ Department of Radiology, Division of Translational Anatomy, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA USA.

Abstract

Introduction: The use of diagnostic radiology images while teaching has been proven to enhance student learning. The incorporation of images in the Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) format has been hindered by the lack of integrated, DICOM image-compatible, viewing software.

Background: A project was developed to facilitate the migration of clinical diagnostic radiology images, in their native DICOM format into the curriculum at the undergraduate level, including the Medical School, while anonymizing the images and presenting them in a way that simulates a clinical Picture Archive and Communication System (PACS). These images can be directly incorporated into Blackboard Learn or into other applications using embedded URLs.

Discussion: A teaching file server was deployed using the Medical Imaging Resource Community-Teaching File System (MIRC-TFS) platform. An HTML5, DICOM image viewing server was developed and deployed. Plugins were created to integrate the anonymized images in the MIRC-TFS server with the HTML5 DICOM viewer and Blackboard Learn. The solution was deployed at an undergraduate level.

Conclusion: This project has resulted in the successful development and deployment of a variety of solutions, including an HTML 5 DICOM viewer, that has allowed for the incorporation of anonymized DICOM images from a clinical imaging repository into the undergraduate curriculum.

Keywords: DICOM; Digital imaging; Informatics; Teaching; Web-based DICOM viewer.