Image databank could help diagnose children's brain diseases

Johns Hopkins researchers are well on their way to building a digital library of children's brain images, which they say eventually will give doctors around the world access to a free Google-like search engine that could help diagnose and treat pediatric neurological disorders. The goal is for any doctor to be able to upload a patient's MRI scan, then wait for the computer to spit out results as it searches for images in the databank with similar patterns and known diagnoses. The databank, which has 7,000 brain images of Hopkins patients and counting, should be publicly available in three years, said Dr. Thierry Huisman, a professor of radiology, neurology and pediatrics and the director of pediatric radiology and neuroradiology at the Hopkins Children's Center.