Limitations of distributed segmentation for three-dimensional radiological modeling.

While the use of three-dimensional models has been shown to be useful clinically, the specialized computational equipment and expertise necessary for their construction and use keeps these tools out of reach of most physicians. This paper explores the construction of a Web-based Java application that allows medical radiological models to be built on a remote server and navigated locally on the physician's desktop PC. This paper will also address issues that arose from a public, unrestricted testing of usability over the Internet, such as model size management, easy navigation, processor loading and security. Based on observations and data collected, we suggest what steps are necessary to make a telemedicine application useable in a true clinical setting.