THE RELEVANCE OF DICOM-RT IN RADIOTHERAPY INFORMATION SYSTEMS - Preliminary Results from a National Survey

Celeste Marques Oliveira, Pedro Pereira Rodrigues

2012

Abstract

Currently, in radiotherapy (RT) departments, there are different manufacturers and stand-alone information systems (IS) for single-purpose applications. These systems have most of the data distributed through different IS. The DICOM-RT extension has six objects that provide a standardized way of transferring the information circulating in the external beam RT. The aim of this study is to assess expert’s opinion about DICOM-RT and IS interoperability in the RT context, through the characterization of Portuguese RT facilities, in terms of equipment and IS with the identification of existing interoperability problems. This study is cross-sectional, and the preliminary results presented in this paper are relative to the period May-July 2011. All Portuguese RT departments (i.e. 20) were invited to cooperate in the survey; the response rate was 40% (n=8), while 10% (n=2) of the institutions did not authorize the RT departments to participate. The preliminary results show that the RT departments have some equipment and IS from different vendors contributing for heterogeneity of RT workflows. The experts somehow attribute importance to interoperability, but have low knowledge about their own IS integrations, and DICOM-RT. Compliance with DICOM-RT is recommended when acquiring new RT IS to optimise the interoperability.

References

  1. Dicom Standards Committee, 1997. Digital imaging and communications in medicine. Supplement 11: Radiotherapy objects, Rosslyn: NEMA.
  2. Dicom Standards Committee, 1999. Digital imaging and communications in medicine. Supplement 29: Radiotherapy treatment records and radiotherapy media extensions, Rosslyn: NEMA.
  3. Gomes, J., 2009. MedQuest - Um Projecto de Questionários Web na Área da Saúde. Universidade do Porto.
  4. Huang, H., 2010. PACS and Imaging Informatics: Basic Principles and Applications, 2nd ed, New Jersey, Wiley-Blackwell
  5. I. H. E., 2011. Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise [Online]. IHE Internationl. Available: http://www.ihe.net/
  6. Jefferies, S., Taylor, A. and Reznek, R., 2009. Results of a national survey of radiotherapy planning and delivery in the UK in 2007. Clinical Oncology, 21, 204-17.
  7. Kalet, I., 2008. Principles of biomedical informatics, Academic Press/Elsevier.
  8. Law, M., 2005. A model of DICOM-based electronic patient record in radiation therapy. Comput. Med. Imaging Graphics, 29, 125-36.
  9. Law, M. and Liu, B., 2009. DICOM-RT and its utilization in radiation therapy. Radiographics, 29, 655-67.
  10. Law, M., Liu, B. and Chan, L., 2009. DICOM-RT-based electronic patient record information system for radiation therapy. Radiographics, 29, 961-72.
  11. Law, M. Y. Y. and Huang, H. K., 2003. Concept of a PACS and imaging informatics-based server for radiation therapy. Comput. Med. Imaging Graphics, 27, 1-9.
  12. Levitt, S., Purdy, J., Perez, C., et al., 2008. Technical Basis of Radiation Therapy: Practical Clinical Applications, Springer.
  13. Liu, B., Law, M., Documet, J., et al., 2007. Image-assisted knowledge discovery and decision support in radiation therapy planning. Comput. Med. Imaging Graphics, 31, 311-21.
  14. Mayles, P., Nahum, A. and Rosenwald, J. 2007. Handbook of radiotherapy physics: theory and practice, Taylor & Francis Group.
  15. Mcdowell, I., 2006. Measuring health: a guide to rating scales and questionnaires, Oxford University Press.
  16. Owen, J. B., Coia, L. R. and Hanks, G. E., 1997. The structure of radiation oncology in the United States in 1994. Int. J. Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys., 39, 179-85.
  17. Pereira, M., Soares, P., Grilo, I., et al., 2008. Desenvolvimento estratégico para o desenvolvimento da radioterapia em Portugal para a próxima década. In: Coordenação Nacional Para as Doenças Oncológicas (ed.). Portugal: Alto Comissariado da Saúde.
  18. Perez, C. and Brady, L., 1998. Principles and Practice of Radiation Oncology, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
  19. Schlegel, W., Bortfeld, T. and Grosu, A., 2006. New technologies in radiation oncology, Springer.
  20. Teshima, T., Numasaki, H., Shibuya, H., et al., 2008. Japanese structure survey of radiation oncology in 2005 based on institutional stratification of patterns of care study. Int. J. Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys., 72, 144- 52.
  21. Wigg, D. and Morgan, G., 2001. Radiation oncology in Australia: workforce, workloads and equipment 1986- 1999. Australasian Radiology, 45, 146-69.
Download


Paper Citation


in Harvard Style

Marques Oliveira C. and Pereira Rodrigues P. (2012). THE RELEVANCE OF DICOM-RT IN RADIOTHERAPY INFORMATION SYSTEMS - Preliminary Results from a National Survey . In Proceedings of the International Conference on Health Informatics - Volume 1: HEALTHINF, (BIOSTEC 2012) ISBN 978-989-8425-88-1, pages 131-136. DOI: 10.5220/0003711201310136


in Bibtex Style

@conference{healthinf12,
author={Celeste Marques Oliveira and Pedro Pereira Rodrigues},
title={THE RELEVANCE OF DICOM-RT IN RADIOTHERAPY INFORMATION SYSTEMS - Preliminary Results from a National Survey},
booktitle={Proceedings of the International Conference on Health Informatics - Volume 1: HEALTHINF, (BIOSTEC 2012)},
year={2012},
pages={131-136},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0003711201310136},
isbn={978-989-8425-88-1},
}


in EndNote Style

TY - CONF
JO - Proceedings of the International Conference on Health Informatics - Volume 1: HEALTHINF, (BIOSTEC 2012)
TI - THE RELEVANCE OF DICOM-RT IN RADIOTHERAPY INFORMATION SYSTEMS - Preliminary Results from a National Survey
SN - 978-989-8425-88-1
AU - Marques Oliveira C.
AU - Pereira Rodrigues P.
PY - 2012
SP - 131
EP - 136
DO - 10.5220/0003711201310136