This volume contains the proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute on "Pictorial Information Systems in Medicine" held August 27-September 7, 1984 in Hotel Maritim, Braunlage/Harz, Federal Republic of Germany. The program committee of the institute consisted of KH Hohne (Director), G. T Herman, G. S. Lodwick, and D. Meyer-Ebrecht. The organization was in the hands of Klaus Assmann and Fritz Bocker In the last decade medical imaging has undergone a rapid development New imaging modalities such as Computer Tomography (CT), Digital Angiography (DSA) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) were developed using the capabilities of modern computers. In a modern hospital these technologies produce already more then 25% of image data in digital form. This format lends itself to the design of computer assisted Information systems Integrating data acquisition, presentation, communi cation and archiving for all modalities and users within a department or even a hospital. Advantages such as rapid access to any archived Image, synoptic presentation, computer assisted image analysis to name only a few, are expected. The design of such pictorial information systems, however, often called PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication Systems) In the medical community is a non-trivial task involving know-how from many disciplines such as - Medicine (especially Radiology), - Data Base Technology, - Computer Graphics, - Man Machine Interaction, - Hardware Technology and others. Most of these disCiplines are represented by disjunct scientific communities.

First multi-year cumulation covers six years: 1965-70.

Both engineers and physicians present possible tools of integration in order to build an ISCAMI. A radiologist, who wants to acquire a PACS, or a mathematician asking for pertinent applications of image processing techniques will find recent information guiding their choice in research or in acquisition of imaging or computing devices of a hospital information system.

This volume emphasizes the primary role played by images in computer science. In the last two decades images have replaced written texts; the enormous possibilities of the image language have overcome written language in an ever-more-restricted ambit.An image is better than one thousand words; so it was straightforward to apply visual language in the field of computer science. Nowadays everything that appears on a computer screen is an image, regardless of whether it is a word or a picture. Is it possible to realize an e-learning program without working in terms of images? The answer is undoubtedly no, even if several problems arise in this context: the qualitative and quantitative content of the image we need to use for a specific task; the psychological effect on the user, including the level of attention and the correct perception of the image significance. Most of these problems form the basis of image-understanding techniques.Widespread use of images requires organization of the information in the databank or database, whose dimensions are sometimes so wide as to be too complex to manage; therefore information retrieval techniques arise from this need. The new instruments used in image and/or remote diagnosis, image transmission, the respect of the law in force and the ever-more-relevant image storage capacity required for this task imply the use of techniques of visual language and information retrieval.The proceedings have been selected for coverage in:• Index to Scientific & Technical Proceedings® (ISTP® / ISI Proceedings)• Index to Scientific & Technical Proceedings (ISTP CDROM version / ISI Proceedings)

Comprehensive coverage of critical issues related to information science and technology.

The term picture archiving and communications system (PACS) was initiated during the first International conference and workshop on the topic sponsored by The International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE) in Newport Beach, California in 1982. The research and development (R&D) progress for PACS has been slow until 1988. The earlier PACS modules were mostly off the shelf components connected together to solve a very specific clinical problem. The three major players in PACS R&D are the European countries, United States of America, and Japan. For various reasons, the European coun tries concentrated in modeling and simulation, U.S.A. pre ferred in-house development or purchased PACS modules from a manufacturer, whereas Japan organized the PACS as a national project. Between 1989 and 1990 PACS R&D took a dramatic positive turn. Large scale P ACS projects were planned and some are of implementation, especially in newly con at various stages structed hospitals. Examples are the Hokkaido University, Japan; Hammersmith Hospital, United Kingdom; Social and Medical Center East (SMZO), Vienna, Austria; the U.S. Armed Force Medical Diagnostic Imaging Support (MDIS) project; and the UCLA Medical Plaza ambulatory care center. Another phenomenon is the organization of the EC-countries which provides a tremendous impetus for the European PACS R&D efforts. This book "Hospital Integrated Picture Archiving and Communication Systems: edited by Professor M. Osteaux and others is a direct product from these efforts.