title: Integrated telemedicine applications and services for oncological positron emission tomography.
abstract: TENPET (Trans European Network for Positron Emission Tomography) aims to evaluate the provision of integrated teleconsultation and intelligent computer supported cooperative work services for clinical positron emission tomography (PET) in Europe at its current stage, as it is a multi-centre project financially supported by the European Commission (Information Society, eTEN Program). It addresses technological challenges by linking PET centres and developing supporting services that permit remote consultation between professionals in the field. The technological platform (CE-marked) runs on Win2000/NT/XP systems and incorporates advanced techniques for image visualization, analysis and fusion, as well as for interactive communication and message handling for off-line communications. Four PET Centres from Spain, France and Germany participate to the pilot system trials. The performance evaluation of the system is carried out via log files and user-filled questionnaires on the frequency of the teleconsultations, their duration and efficacy, quality of the images received, user satisfaction, as well as on privacy, ethical and security issues. TENPET promotes the co-operation and improved communication between PET practitioners that are miles away from their peers or on mobile units, offering options for second opinion and training and permitting physicians to remotely consult patient data if they are away from their centre. It is expected that TENPET will have a significant impact in the development of new skills by PET professionals and will support the establishment of peripheral PET units. To our knowledge, TENPET is the first telemedicine service specifically designed for oncological PET. This report presents the technical innovations incorporated in the TENPET platform and the initial pilot studies at real and diverse clinical environments in the field of oncology.
authors.affiliation: Departamento Ingeniería Electrónica, ETSI de Telecomunicación, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain. g.kontaxakis@upm.es
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kontaxakis
authors.forename: Dimitris
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Visvikis
authors.forename: Roland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ohl
authors.forename: Ilias
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sachpazidis
authors.forename: Juan Pablo
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Suarez
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Selby
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cheze-Le Rest
authors.forename: Andres
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ortega
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Diaz
authors.forename: Leyun
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: Ludwig
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Strauss
authors.forename: Antonia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dimitrakopoulou-Strauss
authors.forename: Georgios
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sakas
authors.forename: Miguel Angel
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Pozo
mesh_terms: D001185:Artificial Intelligence; D003142:Communication; D016494:Computer Security; D003219:Confidentiality; D005060:Europe; D006801:Humans; D008495:Medical Oncology / Q000639:trends*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D019114:Remote Consultation