XMedIA communication system: an XML driven medical image processing and archiving environment

This paper addresses the contribution of XML and related technologies, to the integration of a distributed healthcare system that inherits characteristics from the extended framework of eXtended Markup Language, XML, the distributed Simple Object Access Protocol, SOAP and Distributed Component Object Model, DCOM, architecture. The solution that this system suggests is a two-module architecture that involves the familiar, secure and effective environment of a distributed architecture using DCOM and the flexible, lightweight and ideal for distributed applications protocol named SOAP. The XMedIA system meets the requirements for secure search, transaction, and presentation of medical information to the end users, whether patient or healthcare professional. Key features of the work include personalized access and efficient management of distributed medical knowledge, intercommunication of heterogeneous systems and presentation of information in a concise way, across different platforms.