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I'm building a PACS viewer for an EHR system. They have Iguana running and I have seen something about radiology orders. I think that is HL7 driven. So my question is how would I access the image(s) contained with-in an order? Is there some more information in the HL7 messages I saw or do I need to have some type of configuration that tells me where to connect to get the images? I've done a lot of research and I feel I'm close to understanding this if anyone can shed some light I thank you in advance.

Would I need dcm4chee or dcm4che2 to accomplish this? My application is PHP and will run on a custom linux server.

Matthew Dunham
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1 Answers1

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If a radiology order with images exists, the images are in one of two places, or both.

The two places to consider are:

  1. The modality, meaning the scanner used to acquire the image(s). A CT or ultrasounds machine, for example.
  2. A DICOM server, sometimes referred to as "The PACS server."

If we assume the images have made their way to location (2), using a tool like dcm4che can get you the image information you seek. Use a dicom query, for instance, to request the study data you are interested in. Some unique identifying, study specific, information should be found within the HL7 message you have in hand.

My understanding is that there is no image data contained in Radiology HL7 messages. HL7 may be used to signal that "an event" has occurred (study has begun, study is complete). HL7 messages can be used to initiate the move or transfer of a dicom study from (1) to (2). However, the HL7 message itself does not contain the image data per se. The image data will reside in either (1) or (2).

Perry Horwich
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