The goal of this project, a joint effort of BIRN and the CTSIs at the University of California, Irvine and the University of Southern California, is to develop a system that enables capture and sharing of standardized, de-identified clinical brain images and associated electronic medical record (EMR) information across institutions via a federated database system.
Progress in our understanding of brain disorders increasingly relies on costly collection of large standardized brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data sets. Moreover, clinical interpretations of brain scans benefit from compare and contrast analyses of scans from patients with similar, and sometimes rare, demographic, diagnostic, and treatment status. A solution to both needs is to acquire standardized, research-ready clinical brain scans and to build the information technology infrastructure to share such scans, along with other pertinent information, across hospitals. The resulting research-ready brain imaging resource provides a wealth of accessible standardized brain imaging data relevant to patient care and research.
Work has begun to extend the short imaging protocol (SIP) now being used at UCI and USC to other CTSI sites.
