Question

The Mayo Clinic and IBM have partnered in a venture to improve medical imaging technology. The clinic’s current technologies are not keeping up with the intense processing demands required to analyse digital medical images such as x-rays, CT scans, and MRIs. Bradley Erickson, chairman of radiology at the Rochester-based Mayo Clinic, was quoted in Computerworld as saying, "We are facing significant problems in medical imaging because the number of images produced in CT scanners basically tracks Moore’s Law. My eyes and brain can’t keep up. I see more and more images I have to interpret. ... The innovation here is to take computer chips and extract the information in these increasing number of images and help present it usefully to the radiologist.” This is a case of technology outpacing the human ability to manage the information it produces. In such cases, we turn to technology for solutions. For doctors and radiologists at the Mayo Clinic, standard computer processors cannot keep up with their need to analyse digital images. So, they are turning to the Cell processor from IBM in hopes that it will provide a solution. The Cell processor is the chip that makes Sony’s PlayStation video-game console the most powerful console in the industry, according to many game enthusiasts. The Cell processor was created in a joint effort by IBM, Sony, and Toshiba, with an architecture that is specially designed to accelerate graphics processing. Researchers at IBM and Mayo believe that it could turn a 10-minute CT image analysis into a four-second job. One of the tasks in which the Cell processor could be useful is in comparing scan images of a patient over time. For example, to track the progression or regression of cancer in a patient, physicians compare CT scans of the tumour over time to look for change. Changes are often too subtle for the human eye to notice, so software that implements a complex algorithm is used to analyse the photos. Using a standard PC processor, the algorithm may take several minutes to complete. While this may not sound like much, typically a physician needs to run several analyses in sequence, consuming significant amounts of time. The process of transforming 2-D images into 3-D—something the Cell processor was designed for—also requires significant time using traditional processors. With the Cell processor, these tasks might be completed in a matter of a seconds. Whether it is working to save a life, to finish design specifications for a new product, or to analyse stock market trends, the difference between a minute and a second can mean success or failure. For professionals in most industries, having the best processor for the task at hand, and matching it with the best hardware and software, provides them with a winning solution. [Source: Chapter 3, R. M. Stair and G. W. Reynolds, Principles of Information Systems: A Managerial Approach, 9th ed. Cengage, 2010.]

a) Explain why the Cell processor is the best choice for the Mayo Clinic’s tasks?

b) In what other industry and scenario might the time play an important role when it comes to processing? Explain how reducing minutes to seconds has an impact in such a scenario.

Answer 1

Solution Q1

Solution Q2