Drug firm improves image management

AstraZeneca's image repository will improve clinical trial efficiency

Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has created a clinical image repository to improve management of multiple terabytes of images used in medical trials.

The firm handles large quantities of data containing different types and formats including life sciences and medical images such as X-rays.

It has deployed an Oracle 10g database as the foundation of the repository, which it also hopes will help it meet growing regulatory requirements.

Last year AstraZeneca set about creating the centralised clinical image repository to cope with the increasing numbers of images it has to store.

Goutham Edula, business lead for clinical imaging informatics at AstraZeneca, says the company needed to build a scalable system for managing images that is as robust as the system it used for managing clinical data.

‘Our requirements were twofold,’ he said. ‘We needed a flexible system that could accommodate different workflows and one that would help with regulatory requirements.

‘We wanted something for clinical imaging on a par with data in terms of compliance for the Food and Drug Administration,’ he said.

Edula says imaging is an important part of AstraZeneca’s work because it is used as a tool for early and accurate diagnosis of illnesses such as cancer.

Instead of using an auxiliary storage device, which could lose images during transfer, the company wanted to store image data securely on a single database.

AstraZeneca uses Oracle InterMedia features to perform image processing operations, metadata extraction and thumbnail generation for numerous image formats including tiff, jpeg and the Dicom medical image standard.

The repository will allow fast access for approved users, ensure data integrity, and help the firm streamline regulatory compliance and clinical trial efficiency.