Software Platform Integrates Tumor Imaging Metrics Core Measurement Capabilities for Clinical Cancer Trials

A new software development platform allows users to easily build specialized plug-ins to extend the functionality of their products. Because the platform provides all the required image visualization and management services, developers can focus on the specifics of their particular core competencies.

ClearCanvas, Inc. (Toronto, Canada), a medical imaging informatics company, announced the roll-out of the integration between the ClearCanvas open source picture archiving and communication system (PACS) and workstation and the Tumor Imaging Metrics Core (TIMC; Boston, MA, USA) clinical trials system developed at Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston, MA, USA) for use in managing clinical trials across multiple institutions.

“We could not find off-the-shelf commercial software that met our requirements, so we decided to build custom tools designed to our own specifications for making protocol-driven measurements for cancer clinical trials and to electronically link these measurements and images to the web-based workflow management and reporting system that we developed for our Tumor Imaging Metrics Core,” said Gordon J. Harris, PhD, codirector of TIMC. “By creating plug-in software modules within an open source radiology imaging environment, we were able to build our own custom-designed measurement tools and upload results directly to our web-based tracking system to create a comprehensive and integrated solution that can serve as a common platform across multiple cancer centers.”

Dr. Harris reported that with an integrated system that manages all facets of clinical trials measurements, the TIMC has been able to provide efficient and effective tumor measurements, with fast turnaround time, across many hospitals. TIMC, which is used by hospitals comprising the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (Boston, MA, USA), can offer improved quality tumor metrics for oncologists, with disruption and effort for oncology coordinators and radiologists, helping ensure that patients are suitably qualified for participation criteria in clinical trials.

“We are very excited about what the TIMC has done,” said Norman Young, CEO of ClearCanvas. “This integration has demonstrated exactly what the ClearCanvas platform is intended for. It has enabled a team of innovators to quickly and easily build and integrate new specialized tools without worrying about building the PACS to host them, saving time and resources.”

ClearCanvas is a worldwide provider of novel medical imaging solutions, including diagnostic workstations, PACS, and radiology information systems (RIS) integrated with a range of sophisticated partner applications that support specific workflows.

Related Links:
ClearCanvas
Tumor Imaging Metrics Core
Massachusetts General Hospital