The application of 3D visualisation techniques for telemedical diagnosis

Healthcare is a major candidate for improvement in vision of the kinds of information societies that are now being visualised. The concept of telemedicine captures much of what is developing in terms of technology implementation especially if it is combined with the growth of High Performance Computing (HPC), the Internet and the World Wide Web. EUROMED is a European Commission funded three year project beginning with phase I in January 1996. The overall aim of EUROMED is to collaboratively exploit, combine and support HPC activities to enhance and standardise visualisation techniques to be used in telemedicine applications throughout Europe. Firstly, EUROMED will create a hierarchical telemedicine network throughout Europe and Ex-Soviet Union countries linking isolated medical sites with specialised clinics and HPCN centres. Secondly, EUROMED will develop a hierarchical telemedical visualisation suite of packages incorporating superimposing and enhancing presently used image modalities such as CT, MRI, Angiography, PET and SPECT and newer techniques such as Ultrasound diffraction tomography. Thirdly, EUROMED will utilise the WWW and its tools to combine the telemedicine network and the Visualisation Suite in a complementary manner to existing medical facilities.