Abstract
241576
Introduction: Data and information sharing is an important aspect medical imaging. Imaging sciences often involve multidisciplinary teams of physicians, radiologists, physicists, technologists, and researchers. Quick and secure file sharing streamlines the workflow in data and information sharing; easy file sharing allows professionals to collaborate by making patient data, images, and reports quickly accessible. Additionally, imaging researchers frequently work on clinical studies that involve multiple institutions where standard formats and easy file sharing is essential for collecting and utilizing research data. DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) is a well-established standard format used in the medical field to store, transmit, and manage medical images and associated patient information. DICOM is specifically designed to facilitate the exchange of medical images and related data between different medical devices and systems, ensuring interoperability, compatibility, patient privacy and data security in healthcare settings. MIRDdcm is a software tool that aims to facilitate ease of generating, storing, and sharing data and reports via DICOM format.
Methods: MIRDdcm is a standalone software developed in Python and will be distributed as an executable (EXE) file. The software allows users to deposit documents and/or data (PDF, XLSX, CSV and ZIP file formats) into DICOM files which can then be stored in archiving systems such as PACS or viewed in medical imaging software. The documents and data files can also be extracted to their original form from the MIRDdcm generated DICOM file using the same software interface. A flowchart of the MIRDdcm workflow is shown in Figure 1. All functions are provided in a single screen graphical user interface. A screenshot of the MIRDdcm interface is shown in Figure 2: Using the module "PDF & Data to DICOM" the user can generate DICOM files that store PDF and/or data files in private DICOM tags. A DICOM is generated for each page of the input PDF and can be viewed in medical imaging software. Subject information can either be entered in manually or can be grabbed from an existing DICOM file. Using the module "DICOM to PDF & Data" the user can view and retrieve the stored files. The documents and data files can be retrieved by clicking the "Retrieve Stored Files" button.
Results: MIRDdcm was used to generate a DICOM file containing a subjects MIRDcalc generated dosimetry report (PDF) and the MIRDcalc software save file (CSV)— the MIRDdcm generated DICOM file was then uploaded to Hermes imaging software. The MIRDcalc dosimetry report was able to be viewed using the default DICOM image viewer workflow. The DICOM file was subsequently downloaded from the Hermes server and MIRDdcm was used to retrieve the files (PDF and MIRDcalc CSV save file) to their original state, demonstrating that MIRDdcm has utility for generating DICOM files that enable viewing of reports in medical imaging software, and for storing/retrieving relevant subject data. MIRDdcm operates locally and thus does not require online conversion, thereby ensuring data security and patient privacy.
Conclusions: MIRDdcm has been developed to address the need of easy and secure file sharing of data in medical imaging; the software has been tested, demonstrating utility for the exchange and storage of documents and data. This tool may prove useful in the clinic or in research settings such as multi-center clinical trials. Endorsement by the MIRD Committee and the SNMMI is being pursued; once such approval has been obtained, it will be posted on along with existing tools.
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