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Filmless Radiology. Information Management in Radiology. Filmless Radiology. Filmless radiology refers to a hospital or network-wide environment in which film has either completely or mostly been replaced by an electronic system that acquires, archives, and communicates and displays images.
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Filmless Radiology Information Management in Radiology
Filmless Radiology Filmless radiology refers to a hospital or network-wide environment in which film has either completely or mostly been replaced by an electronic system that acquires, archives, and communicates and displays images.
Filmless Radiology Two major benefits: • Improves accessibility, integration, and efficiency of images incorporated into the patient's electronic medical record and; • The creation of new techniques to take advantage of the recent developments in image acquisition, display, and image processing.
Realized Clinical Advantages • Better image management with fewer lost and unread studies • Use of computer enhancement to produce consistently higher quality images • Ability to provide real-time image interpretation • Greater image accessibility
PACS • Picture Archival Communication System (PACS) a computer system that is used to capture, store, distribute, and then display medical images. • PACS technology can be utilized to achieve near filmless operation.
Subsystems of PACS CR Short Term Storage Long Term Storage MR CT Archival Storage US DF W/S PET W/S Network Display Workstation Image Acquisition
Image Acquisition and PACS • Image acquisition devices must be able to send images to the PACS rapidly to minimize radiologist and clinical waiting times. • For routine images- preferably less than 30 seconds.
PACS Interfaces • Three types of interfaces or gateways (communication highways) are required for the successful operation of a large scale PACS: • PACS interface: permits transfer of medical images to and from the acquisition devices (CR, CT, etc.) and PACS; (DICOM) • HIS/RIS to PACS interface: transfer of patient info to and from PACS; and • HIS/RIS to modality interface:permits direct communication between a medical imaging device and the hospital or radiology information system (HL7 communication)
Interfaces • The RIS directs information flow of exams from the ordering process, scheduling, and image acquisition through interpretation, communication of results, and billing. • RIS can also provide management information such as, exam mixes, volume, and turnaround time. • The PACS serves to receive and store images from the modalities and to distribute them to radiologists for primary interpretation and throughout the healthcare enterprise for clinical review.
PACS Interfaces • Reliability of the interfaces is the most important requirement • These “gateways” should be fully operational more than 99.5% of the time • The modalities must rapidly transfer patient images and accurate patient and study data to PACS, at least 2 megabits per second. • Modality interface must comply with DICOM standard
PACS Networks • “Highways” to carry images to the PACS from acquisition modalities and from the PACS to workstations, the HIS/RIS gateway, and the image archive. • Central architecture • Short term storage available at all workstations • Potential for system wide failure • Distributed architecture • Images stored in multiple servers • Must know which images go to which servers for display
CR MR CT Centralized Server PACS Long term storage ODJ 5 Home Teleradiology W/S Digitizer W/S O C S/HIS PC Slide maker W/S Web server PC ... Short term storage ISU 256 GBytes PACS/ RIS interface W/S PC ..... 137 PC W/S Dicom Gateway OR PACS Angio Fluoro 3 4 3 3 7 ....... W/S W/S W/S US Gateway Film Printer 30 US PACS
CR Distributed Server PACS MR MR CR MR CR LAN LAN MR Server CR Server Display W/S Display W/S Backbone Network Display W/S Display W/S CT Server DF/Angio Server LAN LAN CT CT CT DF DF Angio
MTA 1 MTA 4 MTA 3 MTA 2 Hybrid PACS Parallel DB Servers / Long Term Archives / RIS Brokers Web Server AP1 AP2 AP3 AP4 6 CR 4 US 3 MR 3 CT 2 CR 1 CT 3 Fluoro 2 CR 1 US 1 CT NM TFS Server 57 Display Workstations
PACS • PACS viewing software can be used to dissect, analyze, magnify, or reformat image data in an infinite number of ways. • Virtual private networks (VPN) can transmit whole exams across the globe in seconds for remote consultation. • Archives can keep decades of studies online in a cost effective manner and in a more organized and accessible manner than the traditional file room.
PACS Networks • PACS network must be able to support dozens or more simultaneous users without a significant degradation of throughput; and • Provide a high level of security for authorized users.
MCV PACS • Started mid-2001 • Hybrid PACS solution
Medical College of Virginia Gateway Complex AD Williams West Hospital Ambulatory Care Center Main Hospital North Hospital Sports Medicine Clinic 3 miles 10 miles 10 miles Stony Point Hospital Chester Sports Medicine
Input Modalities- 2005 • 5 CT, 4 MRI, 11 CR • 6 US, 3 NM, 1 PET • 4 Angio, 4 Fluoro • 4 C-Arms, 2 Digitizers
In MCV Archive (7/12/05) • 803,901 studies on-line • 26,560,718 images • 195,259 patients
Images/Studies Online 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Multi-detector CT (MDCT)
---------------------------- FIREWALL --------------------------- MCV BACKBONE VCU BACKBONE MCV CLINICAL PACS RIS DVD Long Term Archive DVD Jukebox Database Server 1 Off-site DLT Tape Jukebox Database Server 2 Midterm Archive RAID 5: 50 TB Stentor Webserver PC DICOM Router 2 DICOM Router 3 DICOM Router 4 30 Diagnostic W/S DICOM Router 1 PC PC 6 CR 5 US 3 MRI 3 CT 2 CR 1 CT 1 MRI 1 PET 3 Fluoro 1 CT 2 CR 1 US 3 NM 4 Angio 1 Digitizer Tele radiology 27 Clinical W/S .... VPN Software
PACS Archival • Images must be stored (archived) for late viewing • Short term storage: available for fast retrieval of newly acquired studies; retention for at least 2- 3 weeks and CR images retrieved within 2 seconds.(RAID- redundant array of inexpensive disks, images stored on hard disk and readily available) • Long term storage: required for legal archive, backup, and disaster recovery; retention for 5- 6 years and CR images retrieved within 1 minute.(Storage ranges from tape and optical jukeboxes to storage-area networks)
PACS Image Display • Display surface of 14 x 17 and preferably 2.5 K by 2 K resolution • One monitor • Two monitors • Four monitors preferred for increased productivity cost of high resolution and bright monitors a limiting factor
PACS Major Organizational Effects • Within Radiology: • Improved handling of clinical information, resulting in time savings in the performance and reporting of examinations • Net reductions in staffing, through the elimination of film-handling tasks and fewer lost films and reports. • Outside Radiology • Faster and more accurate diagnoses resulting in reduced time to initiate clinical action • Potential reduction in average length of patient stay • Potential improvements in overall health outcomes