Centre François BACLESSE Cancer Centre

Transmission of medical information via computers

VIKMAN : a regional collaboration for computer research

With the financial help from the Regional Council of Basse Normandie, General Department Council of Calvados and the City of Caen, the VIKMAN association co-ordinates seven research units in our city. These are the University, University Hospital, the Research Services of France Telecom, (S.E.P.T), the Great National Heavy Ions Accelerator Unit (G.A.N.I.L.), the Medical Cyclotron of Caen (CYCERON), the University School of Engineering (I.S.M.R.A), and the Centre François Baclesse.

This group has piloted the installation of a fibre optic network (A.D.D.I. technology) to transmit high rate numerical information (100 Megabits/sec), which allows the capacities of the computers to be shared between the research units such as the image server in our Centre, the databases at University, and the high speed calculator at CYCERON. The VIKMAN network directly connects to the national network RENATER and international networks such as INTERNET, thus allowing scientific collaborations around the world.

The computer research at our Centre is also important for analysing microscopic images. Through the VIKMAN network our pathology laboratory is directly connected to computers and workstations located in the Engineer High School of Engineering (I.S.M.R.A.). Intensive collaboration has developed new hardware and software for automated analysis and recognition of cancer cell nuclei. These products will be produced in commercial capacity.

©C.F.B. : November 1997