medical image data

[greg ricker]

I am trying to determine if Neo4j is right for an application. I have
data sets extracted from medical images(CT). A set represents a volume
of poiints at a given point in time(day 1,2,3,4..). Each point is
defined as x,y,z,t . The goal is to search the data in 3d space over a
period of time( spatial-temporal ?).

Would Neo4j work well for this? Do I need the spatial components?

[Peter Neubauer]

Greg,
Craig and I have been talking about this. For 2D indexing, I think
Neo4j Spatial is good. In medical imaging, it depends a bit on what
amounts of data you are doing, and how to structure the data and
archive it for fast retrieval. S, some tests around that is definitely
viable I think.

For 3D searches, to be effective IMHO we need a multidimensional
index, like the one Craig is working on. If you want to chip in on
making that happen, it would be great as we have limited bandwidth.
Is that interesting to you?

Let me know if you have questions on where to start.

Cheers,

/peter neubauer

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S:  peter.neubauer
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[greg ricker]

Hi,

     I would be interested in helping out, not sure where to start. I have been working in software for a long time but recently returned to grad school part time. I am in the Spatial Engineering department at the University of Maine. One area of interest has been multi-dimensional indexes so this might fit well.

Let me know how to start and who to work with.

On another note. I have been experimenting with Neo4j and SpringData. Do you know anyone using this combination with hibernate or cayenne?

Thanks,

Greg

[Peter Neubauer]

Well, there are http://www.cgal.org/Manual/latest/doc_html/cgal_manual/SearchStructures/Chapter_main.html that you could implement, I know Carig Taverner has started on something like that at https://github.com/craigtaverner/amanzi-index and it could use some more eyes. WDYT?

Cheers,

/peter neubauer

G:  neubauer.peter
S:  peter.neubauer
P:  +46 704 106975
L:   http://www.linkedin.com/in/neubauer
T:   @peterneubauer

Neo4j 1.6 released                 - dzone.com/6S4K

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[Craig Taverner]

I have some comments. The search of 4D space, x,y,z,t is interesting
because three of the dimensions are coupled, x,y,z, but the fourth is
not. What I mean by this is that if you are interested in a wide range
of x, you are also interested in a wide range of y and z (normally).
But what spatial range you are interested in is usually not coupled to
the temporal range. For example, perhaps you want a large area of the
image, but at a very specific time. Or the converse is you want a very
small part of the image over a wide time range. This decoupling of the
one dimension has a definite effect on the kind of index tree you want
to have here. The multi-dimensional index in the amanzi-index project
below has only coupled dimensions. We have discussed what it would
take to decouple the dimensions, but have not taken any action.

However, perhaps there is a simplification for your domain. I am under
the impression that there is no correlation between images across
time. In other words, images at different times are in fact images of
different patients, and so cannot be compared. In this case, perhaps
you want one temporal index to find the images, and a set of different
spatial indexes to investigate the contents of each image. In that
case the index in neo4j-spatial is nearly OK, except it is not (yet)
fully 3D. We did much of the work to refactor it to n-dimensional last
year, but I do not believe it is completed. Perhaps this can be
completed as a small project here?

On Feb 6, 10:44 pm, Peter Neubauer <peter.neuba...@neotechnology.com>
wrote:
> Well, there arehttp://www.cgal.org/Manual/latest/doc_html/cgal_manual/SearchStructur...

> you could implement, I know Carig Taverner has started on something

> like that athttps://github.com/craigtaverner/amanzi-indexand it could use

> some more eyes. WDYT?
>
> Cheers,
>
> /peter neubauer
>
> G:  neubauer.peter
> S:  peter.neubauer
> P:  +46 704 106975
> L:  http://www.linkedin.com/in/neubauer
> T:   @peterneubauer
>
> Neo4j 1.6 released                 - dzone.com/6S4K

> The Neo4j Heroku Challenge   -http://neo4j-challenge.herokuapp.com/

> >> Hack Real Problems. Win Real Prizes -http://www.t-b-d.org