Teaching File Modeling Language (TFML):

An XML Standard for Integrating Online Teaching File Repositories

 

A growing number of radiology departments are publishing their teaching file collections online.  While such efforts facilitate the widespread dissemination of educational cases, the proliferation of independent teaching file repositories has created an integration problem for users who want to query multiple resources.  Each repository is an “information island” whose query mechanism, classification system, and presentation formats are isolated from the rest of the teaching file universe.  To retrieve pertinent cases from multiple repositories, a user must query each interface separately, and the resulting cases are presented in highly heterogeneous formats.  

 

We are developing a teaching file document standard that will facilitate interoperability across independent repositories, allowing them to be queried from a unified interface.   We propose an XML-based specification called the Teaching File Modeling Language (TFML) that constitutes a semantic standard for describing the structure of electronic teaching files.  The TFML Document Type Definition (DTD) includes syntax to specify a case’s title, institution, author, anatomy, pathology, patient demographics, history, diagnosis, differential diagnosis, and references.  In addition, TFML provides markup to describe the images in a case, including their modality, depicted findings, and captions.  Existing HTML-based teaching files can be updated with TFML annotations without affecting their appearance or performance.  Once such annotations are in place, the repository can be indexed by a TFML-aware search engine that will provide a structured query interface.  Users will be able to select cases from multiple sources by entering keywords, anatomical or pathological categories, or any other attribute.  By separating the content of a teaching file from its presentation, TFML will enable results to be compiled and presented in a uniform format that can be customized for the user’s requirements. 

 

To contribute to the collaborative development of TFML, please email info@wirm.org.

 

 

How to publish cases to MyPACS using TFML.

TFML Documentation

Example of TFML used as a teaching file exchange format:

 

    an original HTML case from Harvard BrighamRAD teaching file

    case converted to TFML

    case imported into MyPACS.net