MIPS Standard activities in Japan

The Medical Image Processing System (MIPS) plan is a standard plan for the online communication of imaging data in Japan. The ACR-NEMA Standard is not always easy for manufacturers in Japan to comply with. This situation led to the formulation of MIPS Plan Minimum Set-87 (MIPS Standard-87), which uses reciprocal corresponding patterns to ACR-NEMA Standards. The working groups on current and future trends study data collected with a questionnaire in 1985 regarding (1) current technology and (2) its future direction as well as (3) the status of utilization of medical imaging and its data management. In 1986, they engaged in further investigations on the above subjects and presented their views on standardization. Conformance tests have been discussed and the conclusions were published in 1987 and 1988. Protocol conversion between MIPS Standard-87 and ACR-NEMA Standard was also discussed and the conclusions were reported. At the beginning of 1988, validation from medical viewpoints, e.g. the setting of anatomical position codes, was requested by medical members. Each layer of MIPS is compared briefly with the ACR-NEMA Standard. A small picture archiving and communication (PAC) system for three X-ray computer tomography units (X-CTs) has been constructed at the University of Tokyo Hospital. In this implementation, X-CTs and an imaging filing system are successfully connected by MIPS Standard-87. Some problems of MIPS Standard-87 are mentioned.