DICOM router: an open source toolbox for communication and correction of DICOM objects

Area of Science:

• Medical Informatics
• Health Information Systems
• Digital Imaging

Background:

• Established standards like DICOM and HL7 facilitate medical image and data exchange.
• Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) profiles ensure interoperability among information systems.
• Older imaging modalities often lack support for current standards and IHE profiles, necessitating DICOM object corrections.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a software toolbox for automating recurrent corrections of DICOM objects.
• To address the need for DICOM object conformity from non-IHE-compliant modalities.
• To enhance the integration of legacy imaging systems into modern healthcare IT infrastructures.

Main Methods:

• The toolbox features a receiver for DICOM objects, a processing pipeline with plug-ins for corrections, and senders for forwarding corrected objects.
• Implemented in Java as an open-source project, it supports user-defined corrections via eXtensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) files.
• Input/output channels include DICOM storage services, DICOM CD-ROMs, and local file systems, enabling conversion to XML or other formats.

Main Results:

• The toolbox is clinically applied for automatic correction of DICOM objects from non-IHE-conforming modalities.
• It facilitates the import of DICOM CD-ROMs into Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS).
• The system supports pseudo-naming of DICOM images for enhanced data management.

Conclusions:

• The developed toolbox has been successfully adopted in clinical settings.
• Its open programming interfaces allow for easy adaptation to future healthcare IT requirements and applications.
• The tool effectively resolves issues with DICOM object conformity, improving data exchange and system integration.