NI LabVIEW, IMAQ Vision Deliver Telepathology Microscope Control to Medical Clinics Via High-Speed Internet Connections

Author(s):
Thomas Klinger - University of Applied Sciences Niederrhein, School of Electronic and Equipment Engineering, Carinthia Tech Institute, University of Applied Sciences

Industry:
University/Education, Telecommunications

Products:
Vision, LabVIEW

The Challenge:
Reducing the time it takes medical clinics to receive images downloaded from computerized microscopes at offsite pathology labs and giving medical staff the ability to control the microscope’s images to further analyze the results

The Solution:
Creating an NI LabVIEW and IMAQ Vision-based application with a one or more gigabit fiberoptic network to transmit pathology results via high-speed Internet connection and providing medical staff with the ability to control magnification, focus, and position of the microscope’s image.

Remotely Controlling Computerized Microscope Images
Gaining distance control of a computerized microscope is a common application in medical clinics without an onsite pathology department. These clinics use telepathology – using the Internet to transmit data and images from a computerized microscope to and from a remote site for diagnosis. The microscope image is captured by a digital camera and usually transferred over low-bandwidth Internet connections to a partner institute, resulting in image download times of one minute or more.

Using the NI-based system created by the Carinthia Tech Institute and University of Applied Sciences in Austria, featuring a telepathology microscope including image transfer and microscope settings control, clinics can obtain reliable pathological diagnosis via high-speed Internet connections reducing image download time from minutes to less than one second.

Creating a Telepathology Application
To take advantage of telepathology, a pathologist does not have to be present in Clinic A; for example, he might be working in Clinic B or his own office. If he and Clinic A are connected to a high-speed network, he is able to use the telepathology client-server software. The server consists of a pathology microscope, a high-resolution video camera created using FireWire, and a workstation running the server software.

Basically, the screen of a telepathology client setup shows two main items, corresponding to the two main tasks of the client software:

• An image window displaying the microscope camera image
• A control window that is used to set one or more of the following microscope parameters:

1. Table position
2. Objective focus
3. Objective magnification (revolver position)
4. Target illumination

The client workstation can use two different methods to display the two task windows:
1. It can use a terminal service client, e.g. VNC or the built-in Windows XP functionality, if it is fast enough. The color representation has to be set to 24 bits, in order to show appropriate image colors.
2. Another possibility is to use the built in Web publishing functions and image control in LabVIEW 7 Express and a simple browser window on the server.

The server software contains a very simple loop. The SubVI functions control the microscope functions through an RS 232 serial port. Some of the microscope parameters are integrated in the image window title for feedback reasons.

For the client software the simplest solution is to use the terminal client software, which transfers the entire screen content of the server to the client. If the LabVIEW Web server is started on the server workstation, a remote panel can be used on the client for the microscope control functions. You can display the image using the image display control in LabVIEW 7 Express.

Currently, the telepathology application simulates a connection between two clinics in Austria, Klagenfurt, and Friesach. Both the client and server are connected with a 4 Gbit/second dense wavelength division multiplexing connection making the transmission 16 times faster than the previous system that was transmitted over 4 ISDN lines.

For more information, contact:
Thomas Klinger
Europastrasse 4
A-9524 Villach
Austria / Europe
E-mail: t.klinger@cti.ac.at
Tel: +43 4242 90 500-0

Browse All Case Studies »