Acuo PACS system on Blade server infrastructure

描述（由申请人提供）：我们建议购买一个研究图片存档和通信系统（PACS）。PACS系统已成为现代电子放射科的基础。这些系统是根据放射科的需要和工作流程量身定制的，通过将医学成像系统与诊断显示器连接起来，并提供患者图像的长期存储，以便可以有效地检索比较研究。然而，标准的临床PACS将图像以DICOM（医学数字成像和通信）格式与患者识别信息一起移动，这对正确的患者管理至关重要。这些患者信息，在《健康保险流通与责任法案》（HIPAA）中被称为受保护的健康信息（PHI），通常必须在研究使用图像和相关临床信息之前进行匿名化处理。学术医疗中心花费大量资源来解决HIPAA合规性需求带来的挑战。理想的环境是确保调查人员永远无法接触到PHI，以避免潜在的违反机密性。标准的临床PACS也缺乏存储和管理非dicom图像和元数据的能力，如小动物图像、组织病理学图像和微阵列图像。这些图像缺乏标准的存档和查看范例，因此在当地实验室之外的任何人都无法有效地访问它们。因此，这些领域的研究人员被剥夺了一种可以极大地促进其研究进行的资源。跨多个部门的跨学科研究的协调、电子数据的健壮组织和数据挖掘能力都受到这种缺陷的影响。拟议的研究PACS将为这两个问题提供统一的解决方案。完全匿名的图像将与元数据和其他临床数据一起存储在研究PACS中。研究结果也可以存档。非dicom图像以及相关的元数据和研究结果也将存储在研究PACS中。通过连接到PACS服务器的PACS工作站，可视化和图像操作的本地访问将成为可能。芝加哥大学调查人员的远程访问将通过一个安全的基于网络的界面实现。然后可以将完全符合hipaa的图像下载到研究者的本地计算机上，用于高级的、特定于项目的图像分析。我们的长期目标是将研究PACS发展成为芝加哥大学所有生物医学成像研究人员的资源。该系统将驻留在一个现有的综合网络中，该网络通过一个由电子诚实经纪人控制的网关将用户和临床数据库连接起来。研究PACS将在这个框架中提供一个强大的工具来整合信息学、非人类图像和符合HIPAA的生物医学研究成果。这一先进的系统将提高影像研究人员进行跨学科基础科学、转化和临床研究的能力，以促进人类健康。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We propose to purchase a research picture archiving and communications system (PACS). PACS systems have become the foundation of the modern electronic radiology department. These systems are tailored to the needs and workflow of a radiology department by linking medical imaging systems with diagnostic displays and by providing long-term storage of patient images so that comparison studies may be efficiently retrieved. The standard clinical PACS, however, moves images in DICOM (digital imaging and communications in medicine) format along with the patient-identifying information that is essential to proper patient management. This patient information, known as protected health information (PHI) in the language of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), often must be anonymized prior to the research use of images and associated clinical information. Academic medical centers spend considerable resources to address the challenges imposed by the need for HIPAA compliance. The ideal environment would ensure that investigators never have access to PHI to avoid a potential breach of confidentiality. The standard clinical PACS also lack the ability to store and manage non-DICOM images and metadata such as small animal images, histopathology images, and microarray images. These images lack a standard archiving and viewing paradigm so that they effectively are inaccessible to anyone outside the local laboratory. Consequently, investigators in these domains are deprived of a resource that could greatly facilitate the conduct of their research. Coordination of interdisciplinary studies across multiple departments, robust organization of electronic data, and data-mining capabilities all suffer from this deficit. The proposed research PACS will provide a unified solution to both issues. Fully anonymized images will be stored in the research PACS along with metadata and other clinical data. Research findings may also be archived. Non-DICOM images, along with associated metadata and research findings, also will be stored in the research PACS. Local access for visualization and image manipulation will be possible through the PACS workstation that will be connected to the PACS server. Remote access by University of Chicago investigators will be achieved through a secure web-based interface. Completely HIPAA-compliant images may then be downloaded to an investigator's local computer for advanced, project-specific image analyses. Our long-term goal is to develop the research PACS into a resource for all biomedical imaging investigators at the University of Chicago. The system will reside within an existing, comprehensive network that links users and clinical databases through a gateway controlled by an electronic honest broker. The research PACS will provide a powerful instrument in this framework to integrate informatics, non-human images, and HIPAA- compliant biomedical research efforts. This advanced system will enhance the ability of imaging investigators to conduct interdisciplinary basic science, translational, and clinical studies to promote human health. Public Health Relevance: Research involving biomedical images generates an extraordinary amount of data that must be captured, analyzed, stored, and accessible for future evaluation, while at the same time the confidentiality of patients' identities must be secured when human subject's data are used. The proposed dedicated research picture archiving and communications system (PACS) will store and manage (1) fully anonymized medical images along with other clinical data and research findings obtained from approved human subjects research studies and (2) other images such as small animal images, histopathology images, and genetic microarray images, which currently lack a standard archiving and viewing approach so that they effectively are inaccessible to anyone outside the local laboratory. The dedicated research PACS will allow (1) coordination of interdisciplinary studies across multiple departments, (2) robust organization of electronic data, and (3) datamining capabilities that will directly enhance the ability of biomedical imaging investigators to conduct successful, interdisciplinary studies of a basic science, translational, or clinical nature designed to promote human health.