| Abstract | A wide range of imaging technologies are becoming increasingly important to the practice of medicine. In addition,
many medical specialties are highly visual, independent of their use of new imaging modalities. Because today's
medical record contains text, images, and physiologic signals, it is inherently multimedia in nature. However, most
electronic medical record systems handle only the textual portion of the patient record, resulting in a fragmentation
of the database that physicians need to make timely, effective clinical decisions. Advances in database-, storage-,
data-compression, and networking technologies will facilitate the development of multimedia electronic medical
record systems for the 21st century. These systems will become widely used over the next decade, and in addition
to enhancing patient care, will also present new opportunities for using clinical imaging data for biomedical research
and education. |