For my final year project I am going to develop a PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System). This is a service intended for use in clinical networks to allow the sharing of patient information and associated examination artifacts generated from various modalities, e.g. x-ray machine, ultrasound, etc.
As well as the service itself, I need to develop a workstation that will allow clinicians to view these exam artifacts. The service itself will use .NET Core in C# to allow cross-platform support. The workstation will then be developed as a web server using Core, allowing centralised installation and maintenance in an institution.
My basic implementation is going to use the original DICOM services based on TCP communication to handle the storage and retrieval of images, as well as scheduling patient procedures via modality worklist. Once major functionality is completed I will then begin implementing the new DICOMweb standard to allow communication with the service through a REST API.
Ideally by the end of my project I intend to demonstrate a full integrated workflow where:
As well as the service itself, I need to develop a workstation that will allow clinicians to view these exam artifacts. The service itself will use .NET Core in C# to allow cross-platform support. The workstation will then be developed as a web server using Core, allowing centralised installation and maintenance in an institution.
My basic implementation is going to use the original DICOM services based on TCP communication to handle the storage and retrieval of images, as well as scheduling patient procedures via modality worklist. Once major functionality is completed I will then begin implementing the new DICOMweb standard to allow communication with the service through a REST API.
Ideally by the end of my project I intend to demonstrate a full integrated workflow where:
- Procedures are scheduled on the PACS either through manual entry or from querying the relevant Information System (HIS/LIS/RIS) via HL7 messaging.
- Older modalities can request scheduled procedures from the PACS. Newer modalities can request scheduled procedures from the REST service.
- Modalities can capture data and embed it with patient data.
- Older modalities can push to the PACS. Newer modalities can push to the REST service.
- Old workstations can request artifacts from the PACS. Newer workstations can request artifacts from the REST service, potentially already rendered in an appropriate format.
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| Proposed high level integration |
Allowing both traditional and web based DICOM implementation in the PACS should allow older systems and newer systems to integrate. The REST service should also be uncoupled enough that it could be put in front of older PACS systems to allow modern device integration in existing networks. As well as this, using a web server also means that clinicians should be able to diagnose from home provided their mobile device has the relevant permissions to access the hospital network. To ensure full workflow integration I am also going to implement the relevant IHE integration profiles (if constrained by time, then mainly the pathology and radiology frameworks).
If I manage to get the integrated digital workflow implemented then I will spend most of the remaining time doing improvements on the workstation as well as the PACS administration workstation, e.g. patient merge/split flags, audio and image manipulation, etc. Development will be slow for the first few weeks while I'm doing research at the same time but it should pick up in no time.
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