Jenny Gurney MS, Presenter: Nothing to Disclose

James Ransford BS, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Kenneth W Clark MBA, MS, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Matthew House, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Mikhail Valeryevich Milchenko PhD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Kirk Smith BS, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Daniel Scott Marcus PhD, Abstract Co-Author: Owner, Radiologics, Inc

The XNAT imaging informatics platform is increasingly used in clinical translational research. A common requirement in this type of research is to transfer a large number of clinical studies from a DICOM-based PACS into XNAT. In the transmission process, researchers often need to blind the DICOM or anonymize it for public use. These tasks are typically time consuming and error-prone. This same workflow is also common in transferring data from one XNAT repository to another. The Joint Anonymization and Archive Transmission (JAAT) tool simplifies and automates this process for XNAT users by integrating several DICOM tools: XNAT Gateway, RSNA CTP, and DCMTK.

DICOM transmission involves various challenges.  Typical PACS retrieval tools don't support bulk downloads.  Mailing a hard drive is slow and has an increased risk of PHI exposure.  PHI sent over the Internet must use a secure connection.  DICOM anonymization often requires familiarity with the DICOM Standard as it applies to HIPAA as well as the expertise to implement the standard through methods like id remapping, sequence anonymization and date incrementing.  Many research groups may not have the resources to anonymize and transmit DICOM properly.  Through the integration of key technologies, JAAT aims to reduce the researcher's effort in DICOM transfer to the preparation of a single DICOM-XNAT metadata mapping spreadsheet.

JAAT has been in operation since December 2012 at the Central Neuroimaging Data Archive (CNDA) at Washington University (WU), XNAT’s flagship deployment. As of mid-March 2013, the tool has been used to anonymize and transmit over 1000 imaging studies for researchers. At WU, JAAT is used in three basic ways: 1. PACS-to-XNAT: Data transmission from the Barnes-Jewish and Children’s Hospitals PACS into the CNDA. 2. XNAT-to-XNAT: Export of anonymized data from CNDA, a private repository, to XNAT Central, a public repository. 3. XNAT Project Cloning: Cloning of an existing CNDA project to a new project while anonymizing the DICOM for a specific audience.  

JAAT enables researchers using XNAT to request bulk moves of DICOM data between repositories in an efficient, customized, and HIPAA compliant way.  

Gurney, J, Ransford, J, Clark, K, House, M, Milchenko, M, Smith, K, Marcus, D, Anonymization and Transmission of DICOM between PACS, Local and Remote XNAT Instances.  Radiological Society of North America 2013 Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, December 1 - December 6, 2013 ,Chicago IL. http://archive.rsna.org/2013/13012379.html