Session S61.3

A Database for Cardiac MRI and CT Reporting and Scientific Work

D Lossnitzer*, E Giannitsis, HA Katus, T Hilbel

University of Heidelberg
Heidelberg, Germany

Objectives: Conventional cardiac MRI and cardiac CT scanners are supplied with specialized workstations to review cardiac images and to write medical reports in individually adaptable forms. However at this point in time none of the vendors i.e. Philips, Siemens, GE or Toshiba provide a database for scientific analyses within all performed scans saved on their workstations. Moreover those workstations usually offer only limited local access to the imaging and reporting data without any connection to global clinical information system. Therefore a specialized web based database for reporting and research was developed.
Methods: We implemented a relational database with a ruby on rails front end on a my SQL server. Visualization of morphology and other imaging modalities were realized with Java script.
Results: Within 6 months a productive system was established for clinical routine work as well as scientific use. The database clients are running on all computers in our department and provide access to the reporting system from every location in our clinic even on tablet PCs by wireless LAN. A software connector to the global clinical information system provides sharing of patients personal master data. All clinical and morphological data as well as imaging parameters can be inserted in imaging orientated database forms. Functional imaging modalities like segmental wall motion analysis, perfusion and delayed enhancement can be reported in bullseye graphs according to the 17 segment American Heart Association model of the heart. At the end of the exam, an automated patient report is generated and exported to the global clinical information system as a pdf file. Moreover scientific analyses can be performed by a link to an Microsoft Access front end very easily by any researcher without the knowledge of SQL reporting.
Conclusions: For our knowledge this is the first easy to use reporting and research database for cardiac MRI an cardiac CT that is utilizable independent from vendor specific workstations on any conventional PC including a import and export interface to the global clinical information system.

(Abstract Control Number: 253)