MamoDB:a web-based tool for training radiologists in the diagnosis of digital mammography

Abstract

The massive growth in applications of radiological imaging and image-guided treatments has met a worldwide shortage of trained radiologists. Therefore, several computer-based radiology training environments, which combine traditional learning opportunities with advanced e-learning platforms, have recently been developed with the goal of supporting the acquisition of radiological expertise. However, the quantity and quality of clinical experience arises as the main issue to ensure the success for such learning environments when training radiologists to interpret medical images. In this sense, MamoDB is a research web-based tool which has been customized in order to incorporate learning capabilities for training and guidance of newly employed or resident radiologists. MamoDB allows panels of experts to collaborate at different hospitals and research centres by means of integrating a Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) to store the Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) files as well as a database with the eXtended Markup Language (XML) files containing the experts’ annotations for each clinical case