Jeroen G. Snel PhD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Ricardo Ciric, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Frank Vierbergen, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Martin Schrijnders RT, Presenter: Nothing to Disclose

Jan H.H. Wolters RT, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Rick Robert Van Rijn MD, PhD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Gerard J. Den Heeten MD, PhD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

et al, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

et al, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Integration of RPRs on OM from external hospitals into PACS.

The new workflow consists of two steps supported by three applications: Booker, Scheduler and Integrator. The Booker is a webserver application that will be used by physicians of specialized departments receiving the OM. Its main purpose is to process an integration request based on information on the patient, requesting physician, selected DICOM studies, and rationale for radiological diagnosis. A distinction is made between studies that are launched for reporting and otherwise review only. After transferring the OM to the dep. Radiology, the pre-selected DICOM studies are integrated by radiology personnel using a desktop application called Integrator. The user needs to select the proper RIS booking code to acquire accession numbers for the respective DICOM studies in order to register them. The requests for booking the respective (virtual) examinations are placed in a HL7 message queue that is processed by the Scheduler. It forwards the messages to the RIS and stores the newly acquired accession numbers as a result. Next each DICOM image is modified through correcting the patient ID and accession number. Finally the DICOM images are submitted to the PACS and validated correctly by the PACS broker. A SQL database is used to keep track of the pending integration and queued RIS examination requests, and to provide provenance on OM of different hospitals.

A proof of concept system has been evaluated by successfully integrating the RPRs of 100 CDs from 20 different external hospitals.

The newly developed applications for integrating externally acquired RPRs have evidently shown the following benefits: structured request for integrating DICOM studies, automatically validated integration and registration of RPRs into PACS and RIS and strongly reduced operator intervention. The new system enables a confluent workflow for seamless integration of RPRs.

A huge number of OM are exchanged between hospitals for second opinion or extended examinations. The integration of the RPRs on the OM involves considerable operator intervention and is error prone.

Snel, J, Ciric, R, Vierbergen, F, Schrijnders, M, Wolters, J, Van Rijn, R, Den Heeten, G, et al, , et al, , A New Workflow for Efficient Integration of Externally Acquired Radiological Patient Records (RPRs) on Optical Media (OM).  Radiological Society of North America 2007 Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, November 25 - November 30, 2007 ,Chicago IL. http://archive.rsna.org/2007/5006515.html