Development of Integrated Remote DB System for Brain Image Management 1
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Wong Tze Poh Kelvin , Diantono Catur , Makoto Takahashi , 2 2 Ryuta Kawashima , Masaharu Kitamura 1 Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, Japan 980-8579 Sendai-shi Aoba-ku Aramakiaza Aoba 6-6 2 New Industry Creation Hatchery Center, Tohoku University, Japan 980-8579 Sendai-shi Aoba-ku Aramakiaza Aoba 6-6
[email protected] Abstract: This paper describes the development of an online brain image database system. To provide a wider audience with a user-friendly brain portal, our group has proposed an integrated web application system that incorporates functions like automated diagnosis support, brain age estimation and brain image analysis systems. Cross platform languages will be used for the front-end (Flash) and backend (JAVA) platform and iterative user evaluations of the web application will be carried out. Keywords: NASS Online, user-friendly brain portal, integrated database system, iterative interface design
1. Introduction With a population that is rapidly aging, issues of advanced aging and dementia are increasingly gathering interest in not only the medical field but also in the general public in Japan. Our research group has developed the Automatic Brain Image Analysis on Network, or ABIAN, an online automated diagnosis system that can act as a clinical decision support tool for the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. This group has also designed a web application for the estimation of brain age from MRI images, using grey matter ratio calculations. We have also, in addition, identified a need for a more flexible tool for the analysis of SPECT brain images, as the precursor tool for automated diagnosis. NASS, the Neuroimage Analysis Support System, a tablet device-based image analysis application, was developed for this purpose 1). Figure 1 shows the interface of NASS. Recently, we have also developed a prototype of NASS Online, the online version of the standalone application, using the same development
tools and similar concepts, effectively bringing many of the functions of NASS to the web. In view of the development of the above systems, there is a growing need to integrate the functionalities of the systems to both improve their ease of use and to target a wider audience. This paper describes the development process of NASS Online prototype and proposes the framework for an integrated remote database system for brain images.
Fig. 1 Interface of standalone NASS
2. Methodology for NASS Online Development The previous work of this research group has seen the development of a prototype system for the NASS, a standalone application, which enables the efficient and effective manipulation and analysis of both the database brain images and the corresponding masks from the regions of interest (ROI). A standalone system for use by the normal doctor through distribution, however, is not practical in view of the large database involved and the proprietary rights problem of the database itself. Report and information sharing is difficult unless different doctors use the same machine. An online system is necessary to enable remote users to connect to the database server for image analysis, and for report and data exchange. For this prototype, the requirement analysis was based on the results from the previous paper on NASS 1), with the functions of: 1. Uploading and display of neuroimages. 2. Qualitative and quantitative comparison with database neuroimages. 3. Mask (region of interest) edition. 4. Similarity measure analysis with database. 5. Direct, electronic annotation and storage of annotated neuroimages. 6. Electronic report generation 7. File exchange between users.
2.1 Using the LabVIEW Web server NASS Online was constructed using LabVIEW 7.1 and its extension of IMAQ Vision 6.1 and Internet Toolkit, all from National Instruments Corporation. The user can control a VI front panel remotely from within a web browser, by connecting to the LabVIEW built-in Web Server, thus enabling remote operation.
2.2 The Client/Server architecture NASS Online employs the client/server architecture. The remote user uploads the brain
File upload via FTP
- FTP server - Client
- Host server - Application
Report retrieval via FTP/ browser
Fig. 2. File exchange via FTP in NASS Online
Fig. 3. Screenshot of NASS Online prototype
image to the server, and the application running in the server processes the data, comparing it with the database in the same server before returning the results of the remote user’s requests through the web browser. Data is transferred between the client and server machines using FTP (File transfer protocol) as shown in Fig. 2. Figure 3 shows a web browser screenshot of NASS Online (Visual comparison of SPECT brain images). Our group plans to integrate NASS Online into the final system, which handles different functions involving SPECT and/or MRI images, in order to provide a readily accessible and complete brain portal system for medical experts, researchers, and the public. The details of the integrated system are described in the following section.
3. Development of an integrated remote brain image database system Growing interest in the field of neuroscience, especially of the brain, and the lack of open access database has led to a need for an integrated remote DB system for the management and analysis of brain images. An example of a web based DB system, whose main targets are experts and researchers, is the Allen Brain Atlas, by the Allen Brain Institute 2), which provides a spatial map of searchable neurogenetic data. An example of a general informational portal on SPECT brain images can be found in Brainplace, a website targeted at the general public by Amen Clinics Inc 3). Our research group is currently working on building a prototype for the integrated remote DB system that smoothly integrates the different systems, so as to target both the medical researcher and also the interested public. The following sections describe the main design and development ideas for our integrated system, which is still in the initial stages of planning and design at the time of writing.
3.1 Proposed System Function and Interface The functions of the new system is divided into three areas: 1) Image analysis – For the automated/manual analysis of SPECT/MRI images, diagnosis of dementia, estimation of brain age. 2) Exchange of information – Platform for generation and transfer of reports, images, opinions. User-friendly interface for a searchable, printable database/knowledge-base. 3) Education – Information on aging, dementia, brain/brain research and other topics of interest. While a prototype for the web application NASS Online has been developed, our group has determined that a different approach must be taken for the design of the new system, while
preserving the functional requirements done in earlier researches 1). The user interface design of the new system is to be done iteratively, focusing on user participation. As such, using a graphical development tool, a prototype system will be constructed from the early stages and usability evaluation will be carried out with both the domain experts and the members of the public. Navigational aids like help and tutorials will be incorporated to improve usability.
3.2 Early prototype construction and evaluation Early prototype interface construction will be carried out using Macromedia Flash MX. Flash was chosen as the prototype development tool due to its potential for creating powerful and attractive web interface and also due to its ability to call on Java code for backend programming. This procedure will replace the conventional paper prototyping procedure. Due to the ease of use of Flash, an early prototype of the system can be constructed and tested on the web before a single backend code is written, allowing a clearer blueprint to be drawn before construction. We hope to carry out the testing/evaluating process iterative with related medical personnel.
3.3 System Architecture Another reason for using Flash for early prototype construction is that the actual interface of the integrated system, a web application in essence, will also be constructed in Flash, while the backend programming, involving query management, image processing, and database transfer etc, will be done in the JAVA language and JAVA-based tools (J2EE, JavaServer Pages, servlets). Both JAVA and Flash are cross platform, and cross device solutions 4), making them a good combination for our purpose. Figure 4 shows the framework of the proposed system.
Medical researcher
General public
user
User authentication Eg. Log in, Log out
Restric ted access
User Interaction Level Request Processing Level Database Management Level
4. Discussions and Summary Flash
JAVA
SQL Integrated Remote Data base System
new data from medical researcher
shows the different options for image management and the right hand side provides textual information for the user.
da tabase
Fig. 4. Proposed framework of integrated system
Fig. 5. Screenshot of the early prototype for integrated remote database system for brain management (currently under construction)
Our group has determined that through use of the integrated database system, new data will be added to the database every time a user transfers new images for processing. This would increase the database and will serve to improve analysis results in the long run. Figure 5 gives an idea of how the prototype system would look like on a web browser. The left hand side of the screen
Besides NASS Online, which enables the remote analysis of images and exchange of files, a complete and usable portal system for brain related research and image management is also necessary in the areas of decision support, communication and integration of information, information storage and retrieval, record keeping and access, data analysis, education, as identified by Gio Wiedelhold et al. 5). We have proposed a framework for an integrated remote brain image management system for this purpose. NASS Online has several limitations in terms of expandability, maintainability and speed. In view of this, construction of the new integrated system would take into account the above shortcomings by taking a different approach using versatile, cross platform programming tools. Our group also hope to address the problems caused by firstly, the large size of the file to be transferred for analysis, especially for MRI images, and secondly, the security issues regarding the access of the images. One of the measures to take would be to restrict access to the database by requiring user authentication, as shown in Fig. 4. Future research includes the formulation of a method for deriving knowledge from both the database and the expert’s interaction with the system, and the effective evaluation of web applications.
5. References (1) Wong Tze Poh, Kelvin et al. Development of a tablet device-based Neuroimage Analysis Support System. Tohoku University.
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Quantum Science and Energy Engineering Department (Undergraduate Thesis). 2003 Allen Brain Atlas. 2005 Allen Institute for Brain Science. Available: http://www.brainmap.org./ Brainplace Brain SPECT information and resources. 2005 Amen Clinics Inc. Available: http://amenclinics.com/bp/ Nancy Hickman. Flashmagazine. 7th May 2005. “Getting Across to Flash with Java”. Available: http://www.flashmagazine.com/1024.htm G. Wiedelhold and E.H. Shortliffe. “System Design and Engineering”. Medical Informatics. Springer-Verlag New York, Inc. 2001
