3D JPEG2000 shows CT strength at 15:1 compression

HealthImagingNews reports 3D JPEG2000 shows CT strength at 15:1 compression:

A multinational research team from the departments of radiology at the Medical University of Vienna in Austria, and Addenbrooke’s Hospital NHS Trust and the University of Cambridge in England, recently conducted a retrospective study comparing a set of compression ratios utilizing 3D JPEG2000 algorithms for emergency department abdominal CT studies. The results of their research were published in this month’s Radiology.

Images were compressed and saved with 3D JPEG2000 at the following compression ratios: 10:1, 12.5:1, and 15:1. After decompression, the images were transferred to a Siemens Leonardo workstation for viewing and interpretation by three board-certified radiologists with six to nine years experience in reading abdominal CT studies.

This is an interesting article; garden variety 2D JPEG2000 has been used in digital pathology almost from the start, because of the large file sizes and need to reduce block sizes for fast remote access, but increasingly pathologists are capturing multiple z-planes for certain sample types, making a 3D compression technology useful.  It is a great sign that these researchers found the results useful for diagnostic purposes in radiology.