This Phase I application is directed at the NCI, DCT's program in Diagnostic Imaging Research. Specifically this grant is concerned with the development, initial testing and evaluation of a digital imaging center that will be able to accept, store, retrieve, display and enhance digital information from all radiology modalities and be coupled to a Medical Decision Support System for use by the patient's physician. Digital image information from all types of diagnostic procedures can be converted to digital form. This information can be processed with a variety of mathematical techniques, enabling the observer to get more out of the output (processed) image than could be seen in the input (original) image. Medicine is a visual discipline. In the practice of medicine, physicians require many forms of visual information to successfully conduct their tasks. Each medical specialty generates a class of visual images from which information is extracted for use by the patient's physician. Thus, today's hospitals must provide an effective management strategy for a variety of medical images. Ratel-Medical Imaging Labs recognizes this need and the important interplay between the diagnostic imaging center and the physicians' medical decision support system. These two major fields of interest will be investigated in this Phase I proposal with the expected results in Phase II of elucidating a total system approach and developing, testing and evaluating equipment to improve the delivery of health care in an intra-hospital setting by the means of telecommunicating digital radiologic images. Experts agree that successful systems could produce "enormous" savings nationally. The recycling of silver in x-ray film and the reallocation of file room space and associated personnel have been conservatively estimated in the several billion dollars.