A novel strategy to access high resolution DICOM medical images based on JPEG2000 interactive protocol

PACS display workstations usually display medical image volumes in one single pattern at one time. Though some image workstations may offer three orthogonal views for orientation, users are not allowed to view different patterns of three dimensional objects simultaneously. In this paper, we propose a novel framework that integrates different rendering methods by utilizing the pipeline mechanism of Visualization Toolkit (VTK). VTK is an open source software system for 3D computer graphics, image processing, and visualization. On the basis of VTK, this image display framework can display multidimensional medical images in two different patterns, Multi-Planar Reformation (MPR) and Maximum/Minimum Intensity Projection (MIP), at the same time with most freedom by allowing users to configure viewpoint freely, what we call Free-MPR, and to shift between different patterns unlimitedly. Furthermore, the framework can be easily applied to medical image workstation or Web-based network application for it is provide as a plug-in that can be integrated conveniently. The preliminary testing results showed that our developed MedViewCtrl display framework can be integrated into any Windows Program based display software or Internet Explore Web Browser to provide multiwindow and multidimensional medical image visualization functionality for higher volume medical image data sets.