AneuSearch: a software prototype for intracranial aneurysm searching and clinical decision support.
OBJECTIVE
Clinical decisions for treating intracranial aneurysms (IA) require integrating information in various forms and from multiple sources. We aim to establish a framework namely AneuSearch to integrate relevant information in IA management and also allow for efficient IA searching based on carefully designed criteria.


METHODS
The backbone of AneuSearch is an open-source three-tier DICOM image management system called DCM4Chee, which is a Java implementation for PACS. A supplementary database (AneuSearchDB) was developed to contain morphological features, hemodynamic and histological data. The relational tables in AneuSearchDB correspond to the most fundamental questions raised by neurosurgeons during IA treatment. The system was developed through collaborations between bioengineers and neurosurgeons.


RESULTS
The prototype software has been deployed to computers in a Mianyang Central Hospital in China. Currently, the system contains the data of 105 IA patients, seven hemodynamic simulation results and nine histological section images. This system was queried as per given criteria and can also provide blood flow data after running an external computational fluid dynamics software.


CONCLUSIONS
The prototype software provides a novel tool to IA management. Future works include incorporating IA treatment criteria in IA rupture risk assessment.
Department of Neurosurgery, Mianyang Central Hospital, Mianyang City, Sichuan Province, China.
Jian
J
Wu
Bioengineering Institute, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand. harvey.ho@auckland.ac.nz.
Harvey
H
Ho
Bioengineering Institute, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
Peter
P
Hunter
Department of Neurosurgery, Mianyang Central Hospital, Mianyang City, Sichuan Province, China.|Bioengineering Institute, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
Ping
P
Liu
D000368:Aged; D002681:China; D016208:Databases, Factual; D020000:Decision Support Systems, Clinical; D006801:Humans; D002532:Intracranial Aneurysm / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D012984:Software; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
Database; Information system; Intracranial aneurysm; Modeling