Reliability, Security, and Authenticity of Meta Medical Image Archive for the Integrated Healthcare Enterprise

摘要

This project involved the design, development and testing of a prototype Meta-Medical Image Archive (MMIA) that is able to facilitate the electronic exchange of diagnostic imaging studies between institutions. The overwhelming majority of imaging studies are done with digital modalities and the images are distributed, viewed and stored electronically without the use of film. When a patient receives care at more than one facility, electronic transfer of image data between institutions would benefit patient care but such transfer must not interrupt local operations and must ensure the integrity of the information. An MMIA design was developed and implemented in a testbed environment that uses a clustered component configuration with full fail over capabilities. The MMIA enables a user at an image display device of a Picture Archiving and Communications Systems (PACS) at one institution to query and identify studies stored either within the archive of the MMIA or in an archive of a PACS at a different institution that connects to the MMIA, and then retrieve and view those studies at the local workstation. The user directly interacts only with the MMIA and there is no interference with the local PACS at any institution. Data transfer between the MMIA and the local PACS can be encrypted to assure integrity and safety of the transfer of the information. This project implemented an MMIA in a controlled environment and evaluated its ability to query multiple PACS, to retrieve, forward and store studies, and to fail over in the event of component failure. The impact of encryption on data transfer times was also investigated.