Digital Optical Recording — The Key to Mass Picture Storage

Abstract

Digital imaging is being increasingly applied in diagnostic medicine. New digital image modalities are extending the range of diagnostic techniques, and it is anticipated that novel imaging technologies will gradually replace the traditional photographic X-ray process. They all produce digital data sets which are far beyond those data volumes handled by conventional computer systems. New technologies are, therefore, required to build distributed picture information systems which support the user during acquisition and evaluation of all the types of pictures. Key components of such systems are storage modalities. Storage systems to store millions of pictures which are needed for background storage, i.e. picture archives, will be feasible by the application of the Digital Optical Recording (DOR) technology. Digital optical disks of 30 cm in diameter will store 1.6 · 10¹⁰ bit of data which is equivalent to some 10.000 digital pictures such as CT or some 1000 digitized large format X-rays. Digital Picture Archiving and Communication Systems based on this technology will probably have an essential impact on the way of operating with pictorial information in diagnostic medicine.