Image formats: five years after the AAPM standard for digital image interchange

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging
• Health Informatics
• Digital Health

Background:

• Early standardization efforts for medical imaging formats began with AAPM Report No. 10.
• Several international collaborations, such as CART, ACR-NEMA, and COST B2, have emerged to define standards for digital imaging and data exchange.
• Existing formats often rely on key-value pairs for image information, with various groups defining specific fields for different modalities like CT, Nuclear Medicine, and MR.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the landscape of medical imaging format standardization efforts.
• To highlight the challenges in maintaining consistency across multiple developing standards.
• To propose a more efficient mechanism for managing standardized field names.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of existing standardization reports and collaborations (AAPM, CART, ACR-NEMA, COST B2).
• Examination of the key-value pair approach used in current formats.
• Comparison of collaboration methodologies (committees, electronic mail, databases).

Main Results:

• Multiple groups are actively defining standards for medical imaging data exchange.
• The key-value pair format is a common approach across these initiatives.
• Current methods for managing field names (committees, distributed databases) face challenges in ensuring consistency.

Conclusions:

• A centralized server approach is recommended to ensure consistent field naming in the rapidly evolving field of medical imaging standardization.
• This approach would provide a single point of inquiry for defined field names, improving interoperability.
• Standardization is essential for seamless digital image exchange in healthcare.