Toronto, ON, June 25, 2012 - ClearCanvas Inc., an innovative medical imaging informatics company, today announced a partnership with the University of Western Ontario to launch an international database of radiology studies of Ancient Egyptian mummies. The database, known as IMPACT (the Internet based Mummy Picture Archiving and Communication System) will be the first of its kind and allows researchers around the world to share diagnostic images and archeological findings. This project is funded by the Digging into Data Challange.

Mummy studies is a field that is characterized by case studies, or by studies of small series of mummies. This is largely due to the fact that few mummies have been x-rayed or CT scanned and the studies that do exist are scattered and are difficult to access.  IMPACT aims to establish a centralized database of radiological studies of mummies by inviting individual scholars or institutions to contribute their individual studies in order to construct a much larger study sample than could be compiled any other way.

“Working with ClearCanvas has allowed our team to rapidly deploy a research ready system which would have cost us millions of dollars and years to develop on our own.” said Dr. Andrew Nelson at the University of Western Ontario. “ClearCanvas’ technology will facilitate collaborative research in the fields of patterns of ancient disease and ancient funerary practices involving radiologists, bioarchaeologists, and Egyptologists world-wide.”

IMPACT is using ClearCanvas PACS Team Edition mounted on a server at the University of Western Ontario.  On this system, the medical images are the unit of study and access to individual studies is governed by issues of intellectual property rather than patient privacy. The associated SQL context database focuses on the geography of the body and the additive, destructive, and transformative changes experienced by the body over decades of life, weeks of mummification, and millennia of history.

"In addition to facilitating the study of Egyptian mummies, this project provides a model that is applicable to any research field that uses radiological studies as a primary analytical tool," added Dr. Nelson.

 
Nelson and his team will be presenting a paper on IMPACT at the 2012 Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery Conference (“CARS”) held June 27-30 in Pisa, Italy. Their presentation is entitled “A novel application of a PAC system: IMPACT, a PACS based collaborative database of radiological studies of mummies”.

“We are very pleased to be working with Dr. Nelson and his team at the University of Western Ontario,” said Norman Young, President and CEO of ClearCanvas. “ClearCanvas’ solutions are rapidly becoming the technology of choice for researchers that require flexible software that can be quickly customized to support their unique imaging and informatics needs.”

About ClearCanvas Inc

ClearCanvas is a worldwide provider of innovative medical imaging solutions designed for radiology and specialty clinics, community hospitals, and research facilities.  ClearCanvas solutions include diagnostic workstations, PACS, and RIS integrated with a variety of advanced partner applications that support specific workflows.  ClearCanvas development platforms and freely available open source products are used by OEMs worldwide to lower development costs and accelerate time-to-market.  Used by more than 20,000 healthcare professionals worldwide, ClearCanvas products and technologies are installed in a range of facilities including world-renowned hospitals and research facilities, imaging clinics, veterinary practices, and chiropractic centers.  To learn more, visit www.clearcanvas.ca.

Contact:
Mary Burrell
Director Sales & Marketing
1.970.372.6631
mary@clearcanvas.ca