An object-oriented client-server system for interactive segmentation of medical images using the method of active contours

In this paper we describe the first prototype of a distributed medical imaging system suitable for the visualisation and processing of medical images. The prototype is an object-oriented client-server system that provides a complete framework for the interactive segmentation of blood vessel contours from X-Ray Computed Tomography (CT) or Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans, through the method of snakes or active contours. The system has been implemented exploiting the benefits of recent software developments, such as the Java language programming and the CORBA distributed object technology, which simplify the building, the maintenance and the portability of this kind of distributed applications.