Research and teaching access to a large clinical picture archiving and communication system

Purpose: To identify practical issues surrounding delivering digital images from picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) for research and t eaching purposes. The complexity of Digital Imaging and Communications in M edicine (DICOM) access methods, security, patient confidentiality, PACS dat abase integrity, portability, and scalability are discussed. A software pro totype designed to resolve these issues is described. System Architecture: A six-component, three-tier, client server software application program sup porting DICOM query/retrieve services was developed in the JAWA language. T his software was interfaced to a large GE (Mt Prospect, IL) Medical Systems clinical PACS at Northwestern Memorial Hospital (NMH). Conclusion: Images can be delivered from a clinical PACS for research and teaching purposes. C oncerns for security, patient confidentiality, integrity of the PACS databa se, and management of the transactions can be addressed. The described soft ware is one such solution for achieving this goal. Copyright (C) 2001 by W. B. Saunders Company.