Congress:
EuroSafe Imaging 2021
Keywords:
Radiation physics, Radioprotection / Radiation dose, CT, Digital radiography, Mammography, Physics, Dosimetric comparison, Quality assurance
Authors:
I. Kralik, B. Brkljacic, H. Vavro, G. Ivanac, S. Džubur, D. Faj
DOI:
10.26044/esi2021/ESI-10378
Methods or background
DMS was developed by medical physicists, hospital’s IT department and a domestic company which previously developed PACS & RIS, as an extension of the existing picture archiving and communication system (PACS) and radiology information system (RIS) software.
Our custom-made DMS supports all possible transfers of dosimetric data, i.e. DICOM RDSR, DICOM Modality Performed Procedure Step (MPPS), DICOM header of image data and DICOM images with bitmap dose reports (OCR recognition). The transfer is performed automatically.
Dosimetric parameters are obtained mainly from RDSR since the majority of X-ray units came with the possibility to generate it. In X-ray units unable to generate RDSR, dosimetric parameters are retrieved from the DICOM header. In some cases, data of interest which are not included in RDSR are transferred from the DICOM header too (for example, RDSR obtained from mammography unit used in our hospital does not include information on compression force used and the name of the radiographer so these data are transferred from the DICOM header while all dosimetric data are transferred from RDSR).
MPPS is used for only one older generation X-ray unit.
In addition to previously mentioned supported transfers of dosimetric data, our DMS also supports possibility of transferring data from DAP-meters installed as external units on older equipment which do not have an integrated DAP-meter. This is done via RS-232 connection.
Data are stored in openly accessible SQL database so in case of a special query or calculation which has not been foreseen or designed by the DMS, such can be constructed by the local medical physicist using the available functions of the T-SQL programming language. This can also include any new dose calculation algorithms or calculations which can be developed in the future.