Hardware considerations

Commercial workstations in many cases supply both the computer and software. The computer is setup according to the manufacturer's specifications. Here only the software is supplied and it is expected to run on whatever computer you supply. Even the operating system, whether it is Windows, Macintosh or Linux is up to you.

With maximum freedom comes some responsibility if you want your hardware to respond quickly. PET data is typically 144x144 whereas a good screen is 1920x1080. You may display this data as full screen but it will be highly interpolated with no real advantage in information presented. The CPU will be heavily loaded down as the number of pixels to be calculated will go as the zoom squared.

One example of such a case is scrolling back and forth over a lung MIP. You expect the system to act quickly but it may be swamped calculating the highly interpolated data. What to do about it?

My own personal preference is not to use full screen. This gives an added advantage that there is additional room on the screen to compare multiple studies. For example you may compare the patient's current study to 1 or 2 previous studies to see any changes in the progression of the disease. This cannot be done if the study itself is taking up the entire screen.

If you decide that full screen is your preference, then you should consider reducing the display size of the windows. A number of commercial workstations have taken this choice, since there is no real advantage in highly interpolated images.

Finally, it is highly recommended to use dual screens as the added real estate can be used for multiple purposes, including 3 view. Return to help.