Thanks to Slashdot for the pointer to this article of a new technique for rendering images in real-time: ‘Ancient artists used a technique called stippling � in which pictures are created by painting or carving a series of tiny dots � to produce drawings on cave walls and utensils thousands of years ago.

Now engineers at Purdue University have created a new kind of computer-imaging software that uses stippling to quickly produce complex pictures of internal organs and other renderings. The method is 10 times faster than some conventional methods and could provide a tool for medical professionals to quickly preview images in real time as a patient is being examined with imaging technologies such as CT scans and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)…

The first ever (as far as I know)Open-Source Picture Archiving and Communications System (PACS), for running a filmless X-Ray service can be found here.

From Auntminnie.com , a radiology site:
“At the 2001 European Congress of Radiology in Vienna, Dr. Claudio Saccavini from the department of medical and diagnostic sciences at the University of Padova in Italy talked about his team’s efforts to build a Linux-based PACS.
Saccavini and his team plan to distribute their PACS software on the Internet as a no-cost open-source application in the coming months at http://www.rad.unipd.it/raynux/.”

Proprietary PACS systems are incredibly expensive, so this is potentially a highly significant development.

http://www.auntminnie.com/index.asp?Sec=sup&Sub=pac&Pag=dis&ItemId=50608