"A traditional clinical departmental PACS can archive and move images well, but it is under-equipped to meet the diverse demands of the oncology environment," says David Nikolai, Business Line Manager, Oncology Information Systems at Elekta. "MOSAIQ Data Director was explicitly developed to handle all DICOM and non-DICOM images and data, particularly DICOM RT objects, and enables the user to orchestrate all data and image traffic through tight integration with the patient chart."
From the MOSAIQ OIS, MOSAIQ Data Director gives users full storage and retrieval capabilities for the complete range of DICOM RT objects, including dose volume histograms, beam orientations, 3D rotations, treatment plans, contoured structures and dose data. Tight integration with the patient chart also eliminates the need to access stand-alone applications and separate log-ins or patient searches.
"The functionality is specific to the RT domain," says Terry Michaelson, Director of Technical Systems at Princess Margaret Hospital (Toronto, Canada), one of Elekta's technology development partners. "And, all of this informationthe discrete DICOM RT elements, in addition to DICOM and non-DICOM images and other filescan be viewed and analyzed in the context of patient's treatment from a single point of access. This is very compelling functionality from both a clinical and a research perspective."
In addition, MOSAIQ Data Director allows all data, images and treatment planning files to be stored in their native formats and in full fidelity as part of the oncology workflow. This includes storage for data in many non-DICOM file formats, such as .avi, .bmp, .jpg, MP3, MPEG, .pdf, .txt, .doc, .ppt and .zip.
Web-based viewer ideal for oncology
The new Web-based DICOM RT 3D viewer enables centers to avoid installing a viewer application in discrete stations. Any workstation with Internet access can interface with the MOSAIQ Data Director viewer, increasing convenience and efficiency. The viewer's powerful 3D functionality allows physicians to manipulate all applicable data sets required for the patient's treatment.
"Clinicians want to see dose distributions, beam trajectories and structure sets in a three-dimensional viewand to be able to rotate around that view to see how the dose is delivered," says Michele Verst, Chief Physicist at Hux Cancer Center at Union Hospital (Terre Haute, Ind.), which tested much of the functionality of MOSAIQ Data Director.
Directing image, data traffic with Query Spanning / Move Forwarding
MOSAIQ Data Director can serve as the central repository and director of the department's data and enables users to locate and move images and data from other PACS, with its Query Spanning and Move Forwarding features.
"Move Forwarding will allow us to move images from one entity to another," Verst says. "For instance, we can move a CT image from the radiology PACS and push it directly to the treatment planning system, bypassing Data Director altogether. Once the TPS is done with the CT image, it can come to Data Director with the plan and all of the RT structure objects attached to it. It's smart data management and we're excited to get it."
With Query Spanning, users can more quickly locate needed images from other PACS. "You can send a query to MOSAIQ Data Director for a patient's diagnostic MRI images, for example," Michaelson says, "and if the diagnostic PACS is another service class provider configured to communicate with Data Director, Data Director will forward that query automatically to the diagnostic PACS looking for the MRI images associated with that patient. This eliminates the need to send multiple queries in order to search for images in other PACS."
MOSAIQ Data Director is on display at Elekta booth #913 during the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) 52nd Annual Meeting, October 31 - November 4 in San Diego. To learn more, visit www.elekta.com/MOSAIQ.
About Elekta
Elekta is a human care company pioneering significant innovations and clinical solutions for treating cancer and brain disorders. The company develops sophisticated, state-of-the-art tools and treatment planning systems for radiation therapy and radiosurgery, as well as workflow enhancing software systems across the spectrum of cancer care.
Stretching the boundaries of science and technology, providing intelligent and resource-efficient solutions that offer confidence to both healthcare providers and patients, Elekta aims to improve, prolong and even save patient lives, making the future possible.
Today, Elekta solutions in oncology and neurosurgery are used in over 5,000 hospitals globally, and every day more than 100,000 patients receive diagnosis, treatment or follow-up with the help of a solution from the Elekta Group.
Elekta employs around 2,500 employees globally. The corporate headquarter is located in Stockholm, Sweden, and the company is listed on the Nordic Exchange under the ticker EKTAb. For more information about Elekta, please visit www.elekta.com.
SOURCE Elekta