Digital imaging standards and system interoperability.

Standards development in medical imaging originated in the field of radiology and has rapidly spread to numerous other medical specialties. Pathology is well represented in this effort, and it benefits from interoperability made possible by the utilization of the DICOM 3.0 standard in the fabrication of pathology workstations. Because there currently exists a strong trend for both standards convergence and international harmonization, the formation of a world-wide electronic medical image standard is likely only several years away.