A JAVA environment for medical image data analysis: initial application for brain PET quantitation.

Analysis software for medical image data tends to be expensive and usable only in a restricted environment. Therefore the aim of the current project was to implement a flexible framework for medical image processing and visualization which is portable among platforms and open to different data formats including DICOM 3.0. The software was designed as a set of tools which encapsulate specialized functionality. The tools are full stand alone applications, but they are also able to present a co-operating environment within which images and other information are communicated in real time. Currently, the emphasis is on quantitative analysis of PET data by kinetic modelling. However, general viewing capabilities are included, and the design is flexible enough that other types of processing can easily be integrated by simply plugging in Java classes. The software is successfully applied to PET data quantitation in clinical research studies and even patient studies. Portability was aimed at by encoding the programs in Java. Experience shows that the implementation of such a complex and computationally demanding Java application is feasible. Although there are major portability issues to consider, configurations can be found on which the software runs stably and at a speed comparable to C code if just-in-time compilation is available.