Steve D. Uttecht MS, Presenter: Nothing to Disclose

Barton F. Branstetter MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Paul Joseph Chang MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

The advent of PACS has permitted tremendous advances in the distribution and availability of radiographic images throughout the medical enterprise. But medical images are not limited to those produced within Radiology. Other medical specialties, realizing the advantages that PACS has brought to Radiology, are seeking similar systems to archive and distribute their medical images. The purpose of this research is to create software that allows physicians outside of radiology to leverage the existing PACS infrastructure for storage and distribution of non-radiologic medical images.

We surveyed several medical specialties to determine specialty-specific imaging requirements that standard radiology PACS may not address. Surveyed departments included ophthalmology, dermatology, and pathology. We then developed software (the SimpleDICOM wrapper) to allow non-radiologic medical images from these individual departments to be incorporated into the hospital PACS. The software encapsulates non-DICOM files into the DICOM schema, with the inclusion of appropriate patient metadata.

The interface for the SimpleDICOM wrapper was customized to each individual department, so that specialty-specific fields could be included in the DICOM structure. Further customization of the graphical interface allowed individual departments to efficiently capture metadata specific to their needs. The software runs on a desktop PC, making it readily distributable on existing hardware. Export functions permit the inclusion of these non-radiographic images into the existing PACS storage and distribution systems, but in some cases added security measures were needed to ensure patient confidentiality. Integration with departmental scheduling software made the tools more accessable to clinicians. Some specialties, such as cardiology and gastroenterology, have already embraced DICOM standards, and their medical images are easily included in the PACS architecture.

Customizable interfaces for converting non-radiololgic images to the DICOM standard allow departments other than radiology to leverage existing PACS infrastructure for the storage and distribution of all medical images.

S.D.U.,B.F.B.,P.J.C.: Laboratory funding provided in part by the following organizations: Stentor, Inc (Stentor) National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Library of Medicine (NLM) Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) United States Air Force (USAF)P.J.C.: Member of Medical Advisory Board at IDX Systems Corporation (IDX)

Uttecht, S, Branstetter, B, Chang, P, Leveraging PACS Infrastructure for the Storage and Distribution of Non-Radiologic Medical Images: It’s Not Just for Radiologists Anymore.  Radiological Society of North America 2005 Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, November 27 - December 2, 2005 ,Chicago IL. http://archive.rsna.org/2005/4410173.html