Imaging Informatics and PACS

1. Imaging Informatics and PACS Dr.Metab Alkubeyyer Consultant body MRI and Imaging Informaticist

2. IMAGING INFORMATICS • Imaging informatics (previously called radiology informatics) is sometimes thought of as the study of how images get from one place to another, but in reality imaging informatics has a much larger scope.

3. IMAGING INFORMATICS • One of the major components of imaging informatics is PACS (picture archiving and communication system).

4. DICOM • Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine • is a standard for handling, storing, printing, and transmitting information in medical imaging. It includes a file format definition and a network communications protocol.

5. TECHNIQCAL STANDARD ?

9. American College of Radiology (ACR) • National Electrical Manufacturer’s Association (NEMA)

11. What is the Goal of DICOM? The goals of DICOM are to achieve compatibility and to improve workflow efficiency between imaging systems and other information systems in healthcare environments worldwide.

12. MRI CT ENDOSCOPY ECG DICOM DICOM DICOM DICOM HL7 HL7 HIS/EMR RIS PACS DICOM • Image archive (store) • Image distribution. • Image visualization • Image analysis. • Modality assignment • Radiographer and Radiologist assignment • Room assignment • Radiology reports • Receiving orders from HIS • Inventory radiology system • KPI • Scheduling • Order entry • Document review • Scheduling

13. Why can’t

15. PACS • a network of computers used by radiology departments that replaces film with electronically stored and displayed digital images. It provides archives for storage of multimodality images, integrates images with patient database information, facilitates laser printing of images, and displays both images and patient information at work stations throughout the network. It also allows viewing of images in remote locations.

17. PACS main uses • Hard copy replacement: no more papers and printing radiology films. Digital images and text are used (soft copy) • Remote access: Teleradioogy. Telemedicine. Access from home • Electronic image integration platform: HIS, RIS, EMR • Radiology Workflow Management

18. PACS and ITS PARTS • Monitors • Network • Storage • Supporting software

19. PACS and ITS PARTS 1)Monitors: • CRTs and LCDs. • Resoulution: how many mega pixel. e.g viewing mammograms need at least 5 megapixel. • Quality assurance: Gamma correction.

20. CRT and LCD

21. PACS and ITS PARTS 2)Networks • Client and servers • Routers, switches • Storage devices.

22. Networks types • LAN (Local area Netwrok): e.g Inside hospital network • VPN (Virtual private network): For teleradiology or telemedicine services and support.

24. Network • Bandwidth: depends on medium of data transfer. Fiberoptic , cables, leased line • Security.

25. 3) Storage types: • spinning disks (eg, hard drive) • magnetic tape (eg, audio cassettes), • optical media (eg, compact discs and digital video discs), and solid-state (eg, USB [universal serial bus] flash memory cards) • Most PACSuse combinations of these.

26. STORAGE • Can be long term or short term. • Most PACS use either magnetic tape or spinning disks(hard disk) for long-term storage.

27. STORAGE • Redundancy: refers to storage of multiple copies of imaging data. A redundant array of inexpensive disks (RAID) is the most frequently-used redundancy system in PACS storage

28. PACS supporting softwares • Speech Recognition • Digital Teaching Files . e.g The Medical Imaging Resource Center (MIRC) • Image Processing: e.g CAD, 3d visualization, dual energy subtraction. • Asynchronous Communication Tools. Emails, instant messaging, SMS

30. Besides PACS • Radiology Information System (RIS): for scheduling patients, storing reports, and patient tracking; • Hospital information system,(HIS), which keeps track of patient demographic data and locations. • Electronic Medical Record (EMR): to organize all medical data from an entire enterprise.

31. Thanks