PASSARIELLO, F.:

CHEAP: A standard file format for interchange of Haemodynamic and CEAP information’s on venous diseases.

CEAP classification provides an useful tool to share synthetic information’s on venous diseases. Venous Cartography (MAP) instead describes in details the haemodynamics and the organisation of the venous circulation of the lower limb.

CHEAP file format as an extension of the CEAP classification includes a complete description of a venous cartography, where the H letter means Haemodynamic information’s. The complete name instead seems to mean a low cost global evaluation.

The venous cartography lists the two limbs in sequence and for each of them the lists of nodes and of branches. Nodes have spatial floating point co-ordinates relative to a standard space, while branches have pointers to nodes and have two control points to guide a Bezier Arc between two extreme nodes. Each branch has several flags to record its patency, tortuosity, calibre, direction of flow, sufficiency and the net number (R1-R4). Some nodes are special ones (lymphonodes, sclerosis, closed or open trophic lesions, etc.).

CHEAP is not a new classification, but it adds an essential description to patient sharable information’s.

CHEAP takes graph structure apart from displaying method, which is instead up to the file reader program or browser. Different browsers can provide several different graphical displays of the same graph structure, according to their graphical implementation, though they cannot add new information’s.

CHEAP can be read by the VNet Reader Browser.

CHEAP is proposed to improve the interchange of information’s and the diffusion of cartography practice.