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Interactive Visualization of DICOM Volumetric Datasets in the Web - Providing VR Experiences within the Web Browser
Abstract
Recently the possibility to visualize interactively volumetric datasets in the Web has opened new methods of exploration and sharing of 3D images coming from different fields. At the same time, VR technologies are gaining momentum in the society, where several HMD’s are ready to be bought. This paper presents how volumetric datasets represented as DICOM images can be loaded and visualized interactively in a WebVR compatible setup. DICOM images are loaded from local or remote repositories into X3D volume rendering nodes, which are displayed in the VR devices using WebVR technology. The results show that WebVR and X3D are compatible web technologies that can be joined together to provide easy and extensible tools to interact with DICOM datasets. Some enhancements for the interactive VR and non-VR experiences are presented.
... An approach using desktop computer viewer often requires installation of many software libraries and applications, which leads to a slow and unsecure environment. As an alternative to desktop application, a web browser-based solution can be used [6], [7], [8] which is much more fitting for the task. ...
Many solutions display DICOM images locally or in
a web browser but require that the full DICOM images be
transported over the network or on a physical medium. As
DICOM image size and the number of DICOM images
increase, their transport over the Internet becomes more
difficult. Contemporary computer resources used by
physicians cannot keep up with the ever-increasing amount of
new DICOM data, which complicates and prolongs diagnosis.
This problem is exacerbated in the COVID crisis, making it
difficult to examine patients, communicate between patients
and physicians, and have physical access to DICOM images
and volumetric data. In this paper, we present a distributed
architecture for remote rendering of DICOM images. We
propose an innovative web-based solution hierarchically
divided into several levels that can be used to manage patient
data, DICOM images, and radiology reports based on those
images. The architecture is organized to leverage existing
hardware, storage, and telecommunications infrastructure. We
have approached the solution in such a way that the images are
stored in healthcare facilities, preferably where they were
taken, and only the necessary data is securely and seamlessly
transported to the physicians. Our carefully engineered
solution shows significant improvements in terms of rendering
time and speed of data transfer, which is about 110 ms for an
image with a resolution of 1996 by 2457 pixels, achieving
seamless user experience for at least Full HD images.
... However, using an interpreted language like Python usually results in lower performance, and the authors show only the graphical renderings, but no timings. In [12], DICOM images are transferred to and rendered in a web browser, which requires a high-throughput internet connection, large RAM capacity and hardware capability for volume rendering. The Studierfenster platform [13] offers visualization and image analysis with advanced features like AR/VR, cranial implant design, and facial reconstruction. ...
Quick access to radiological images is important for timely diagnosis and effective patient treatment. In this paper, we present a web-based client–server system for seamless image and volume rendering of DICOM images that provides fast access to the data needed for diagnosis without placing a heavy load on computer resources on the client side. DICOM images are rendered on the server, and the resulting 2D images are sent to physicians who can view and analyze them via web browser. Security of patient medical data is ensured by encryption during storage and transfer. The system’s communication model hides the latency of remote rendering to ensure a seamless experience for the user.
Recently, WebGL has been widely used in numerous web-based medical image viewers to present advanced imaging visualization. However, in the scenario of medical imaging, there are many challenges of computation time and memory consumption that limit the use of advanced image renderings, such as volume rendering and multiplanar reformation/reconstruction, in low-cost mobile devices. In this study, we propose a client-side rendering low-cost computation algorithm for common two- and three-dimensional medical imaging visualization implemented by pure JavaScript. Particularly, we used the functions of cascading style sheet transform and combinate with Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM)-related imaging to replace the application programming interface with high computation to reduce the computation time and save memory consumption while launching medical imaging interpretation on web browsers. The results show the proposed algorithm significantly reduced the consumption of central and graphics processing units on various web browsers. The proposed algorithm was implemented in an open-source web-based DICOM viewer BlueLight; the results show that it has sufficient rendering performance to display 3D medical images with DICOM-compliant annotations and has the ability to connect to image archive via DICOMweb as well.Keywords: WebGL, DICOMweb, Multiplanar reconstruction, Volume rendering, DICOM, JavaScript, Zero-footprint.
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