Imagistic Database for Medical e-Learning

The paper presents the multimedia component included in TESYS, a medical e-learning platform that is used nowadays at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy Craiova at disciplines like gastroenterology and urology in order to complete the traditional medical learning process. The multimedia component contains a database with color medical images acquired by the teachers from different patients in the diagnosis process, so represent real cases. A series of alphanumerical information: diagnosis, treatment and patient evolution are added for each image. The multimedia component together with modern search methods: content-based image query and content-based region query is used both in the training process and e-testing one. The content-based visual query uses characteristics that are automatically extracted from medical images (color, texture, regions). Using content-based visual query with other access methods (text-based, hierarchical methods) on a teaching image database allows students to see images and associated information from database in a simple and direct manner. This method stimulates learning, by comparing similar cases along with their particularities, or by comparing cases that are visually similar, but with different diagnoses.