ABSTRACT
Many solutions display DICOM images locally or in a web browser but require that the full DICOM images be transported over the network or on a physical medium. As DICOM image size and the number of DICOM images increase, their transport over the Internet becomes more difficult. Contemporary computer resources used by physicians cannot keep up with the ever-increasing amount of new DICOM data, which complicates and prolongs diagnosis. This problem is exacerbated in the COVID crisis, making it difficult to examine patients, communicate between patients and physicians, and have physical access to DICOM images and volumetric data. In this paper, we present a distributed architecture for remote rendering of DICOM images. We propose an innovative web-based solution hierarchically divided into several levels that can be used to manage patient data, DICOM images, and radiology reports based on those images. The architecture is organized to leverage existing hardware, storage, and telecommunications infrastructure. We have approached the solution in such a way that the images are stored in healthcare facilities, preferably where they were taken, and only the necessary data is securely and seamlessly transported to the physicians. Our carefully engineered solution shows significant improvements in terms of rendering time and speed of data transfer, which is about 110 ms for an image with a resolution of 1996 by 2457 pixels, achieving seamless user experience for at least Full HD images.