Using Web technologies on PACS environments:: A DICOM Web server with a DICOM Java']Java Viewer

The system we present allows users to ask for information stored in a DICOM database from a Web browser. Using the DICOM standard the Web server queries the DICOM database and presents the requested list of patients or studies in a Web page. By selecting one of the studies from the Web page, the images are retrieved from the DICOM database and displayed inside the Web browser with the help of a DICOM Java Viewer. The system can be used with any DICOM database. It also presents several advantages compared to more traditional PACS solutions: Since it is based on a client-server system where the client only needs to have a Web browser, the system is easy to install and to maintain and is user friendly. It is based on multiplatform Internet technologies like Java, thus it can be used from any hospital department regardless of what kind of computers they use. Our DICOM Java viewer can display any kind of DICOM image and makes it possible to change the windowlevel of true 12 or 16 bits depth greyscale images. Other image manipulation like zooming or rotations are available. The images can be viewed in stack or tile mode.