The examination data produced by digital modalities can contain information useful in different scenarios, for example, to monitor patient dosimetry, radiographic procedures and image quality. There are important parameters such as image processing parameters, exposure index, patient dose and geometric information that are generated by the modality and transferred to the Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) database as DICOM metadata. As a consequence of the recent technological developments occurring within Radiology and information technologies, it is now possible to use tools that enable the...

In the present work we carried out a retrospective study on DICOM Metadata stored in two PACS archives of two different health institutions (Institution A and Institution B). It was requested authorization to the Hospital Board of Directors and to the Ethics Commission, making sure that would be guaranteed the confidentiality of the data collected. DICOM metadata were indexed and extracted after Dicoogle user validation. Retrieved tag-value data elements were used to objectively assess X-ray exposure. Due to its generalized availability, the Sensitivity DICOM attribute...

The indexing process occurs over a 593 GBytes (Institution A) and 1362 GBytes (Institution B) information volume, and took about 93 hours at Institution A and 212 hours at Institution B. As a result of the indexing process we collected, data relating to 351.248 images, from 210.582 Computed Radiography studies and belonging to 69.041 patients (Table 1). After indexing we performed the query and retrieval process where we assembled 8087 images, from 2047 mammographic studies belonging to 1757 patients. The statistical analysis (Table 2) highlights...

The use of DICOM metadata mining tools such as the Dicoogle system in a hospital environment can result in gathering important data for the professional practice improvement. The developed exposure assessment methodology shows that the efficient mining of DICOM metadata, stored over disperse PACS archives of radiology departments may definitely contribute to quality control initiatives, namely initiatives related with radiation protection or protocols optimization.

Milton Rodrigues dos Santos is Adjunct Professor at the School of Health Sciences, University of Aveiro. He received his X-ray Technologist Bachelor in 1992 and his Graduation in 2011 from the School of Health Technology of Coimbra. He worked in several health institutions and was a radiology privet facility manager from 2003 to 2007. In 2004 conclude his postgraduate studies in Clinical Education Supervision and received his Msc in Information Management from the University of Aveiro in 2007. Presently is a PhD student at the...

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