The Cardiac Atlas Project: Development of a Framework Integrating Cardiac Images and Models

We describe the software design, architecture and infrastructure employed in the Cardiac Atlas Project (CAP), an international collaboration to establish a web-accessible structural and functional atlas of the normal and pathological heart. Cardiac imaging data is de-identified in a HIPAA compliant manner using the LONI Debabeler with customized DICOM mappings. A production database and web-interface were employed based on existing tools developed by LONI. A new open-source database and web interface have been developed for research purposes. After consideration and evaluation of several software frameworks, the research database has been implemented based on a 3-tier architecture utilizing MySQL, JBoss and Dcm4chee. Parts of Dcm4chee have been extended to enable access to MRI specific attributes and arbitrary search parameters. An XML schema has been designed representing the elements associated with the creation and curation of volumetric shape models. The research database is implemented compliant to the DICOM standard, thus providing compatibility with existing clinical networks and devices. A modeling tool, the CAP client, has been developed to enable browsing of 3D image data and creation and modification of volumetric shape models. All software components developed by the CAP are open source and are freely available under the Mozilla license.