IHE Radiology

IHE Radiology was formed in 1998 to address issues of interoperability and information sharing that impact the quality of care in medical imaging. It has developed and documented standards-based solutions to these problems and organized testing and education to foster their adoption. IHE solutions are now available in hundreds of commercial radiology-related information systems and are implemented in care sites around the world.

IHE Radiology is sponsored by the Radiological Society of North America.

Radiology Profiles

IHE Radiology integration profiles are specified in detail in the IHE Radiology Technical Framework. These profiles include:

Profiles for Workflow

• [SWF] Scheduled Workflow integrates ordering, scheduling, imaging acquisition, storage and viewing for Radiology exams.
• [PIR] Patient Information Reconciliation coordinates reconciliation of the patient record when images are acquired for unidentified (e.g. trauma), or misidentified patients.
• [PWF] Post-Processing Workflow provides worklists, status and result tracking for post-acquisition tasks, such as Computer-Aided Detection or Image Processing.
• [RWF] Reporting Workflow provides worklists, status and result tracking for reporting tasks, such as dictation, transcription and verification.
• [IRWF] Import Reconciliation Workflow manages importing images from CDs, hardcopy, etc. and reconciling identifiers to match local values.
• [PDI] Portable Data for Imaging provides reliable interchange of image data and diagnostic reports on CDs for importing, printing, or optionally, displaying in a browser.
  
  

Profiles for Content

• [NM] Nuclear Medicine Image specifies how Nuclear Medicine images and result screens are created, exchanged, used and displayed.
• [MAMMO] Mammography Image specifies how Mammography images and evidence objects are created, exchanged, used and displayed.
• [ED] Evidence Documents specifies how data objects such as digital measurements are created, exchanged, and used.
• [SINR] Simple Image and Numeric Report specifies how Diagnostic Radiology Reports (including images and numeric data) are created, exchanged, and used.
  
  

Profiles for Presentation

• [KIN] Key Image Note lets users flag images as significant (e.g. for referring, for surgery, etc.) and add notes.
• [CPI] Consistent Presentation of Images maintains consistent intensity and image transformations between different hardcopy and softcopy devices.
• [PGP] Presentation of Grouped Procedures facilitates viewing and reporting on images for individual requested procedures (e.g. head, chest, abdomen) that an operator has grouped into a single scan.
• [FUS] Image Fusion specifies how systems creating and registering image sets and systems displaying fused images create, exchange and use the image, registration and blended presentation objects.
  
  

Profiles for Infrastructure

• [XDS-I] Cross-enterprise Document Sharing for Imaging extends XDS to share images, diagnostic reports and related information across a group of care sites.
• [TCE] Teaching File and Clinical Trial Export lets users flag images and related information for automatic routing to teaching file authoring or clinical trials management systems.
• [ARI] Access to Radiology Information shares images, diagnostic reports, and related information inside a single network.
• [ATNA] Audit Trail and Node Authentication (ATNA) - Radiology Option defines Radiology-specific audit trail messages.
• [CHG] Charge Posting provides timely procedure details from modalities to billing systems.
  
  

Radiology Committees

The IHE Radiology Planning and Technical Committees are responsible for developing IHE integration profiles, maintaining the IHE Radiology Technical Framework , and planning deployment activities, such as testing events and educational programs, in the domain of radiology. The committees are composed of users and developers of imaging and information systems. The membership of these and other IHE domain committees, along with schedules of activities, meeting agendas and minutes and working documents can be found in the Radiology section of the IHE Wiki.

These committees are composed of representatives of stakeholder organizations who are users or developers of radiology-related healthcare IT systems. The committees are international in scope. All qualified stakeholders are invited to join.

Participation is open and voluntary, but in order to remain a voting committee member, participants must take part regularly in committee meetings and teleconferences and perform committee assignments. All IHE committee participants serve as representatives of IHE Member Organizations. Information on becoming an IHE Member Organization is available on the IHE Governance page. You can contact the secretary of the IHE ITI committees via email at ihe@rsna.org.

Email communication among participants in the committees takes place through Google Groups maintained for this purpose. You can request an invitation to join the committee lists below.

Mammography

The IHE Mammography Subcommittee of the IHE Radiology Technical Committee brings together users and developers of mammography imaging and information systems. They define standards-based solutions, called integration profiles, to address interoperability and information sharing problems that impact patient care in mammography. IHE drives the adoption of integration profiles by building industry consensus, educating developers and users, and testing and demonstrating systems that conform to them.

The Mammography Image Integration Profile (MAMMO) specifies how DICOM Mammography images and evidence objects are created, exchanged and used. It is currently published in a Trial Implementation draft, which will be used for testing at Connectathons in 2007. Go to download and submit comments on this supplement to the IHE Technical Framework.

IHE has published a brochure, Going Digital: An IHE Guide for Mammography , which provides answers to commonly asked questions about using IHE to make the transition to digital mammography. IHE has also published a more detailed reference, the Mammography User's Handbook.

Subscribe to the Mammography Subcommittee's email distribution list below.

Other Resources

Among the information resources and other tools IHE Radiology provides for users and developers of healthcare IT systems in radiology are:

• Radiology Technical Framework providing detailed specifications for implementing IHE Profiles
• Radiology User Handbooks providing guidance on implementing IHE profiles to achieve interoperability in radiology
• "Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise: A Primer" by David S. Channin, MD, Eliot L. Siegel, MD, et al: A five-part series published in 2001 in the journal RadioGraphics, providing insight into IHE its benefits for radiology:
• Part 1. Introduction
• Part 2. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers: The IHE Integration Profiles
• Part 3. What Does IHE Do for ME?  
• Part 4. The Role of Existing Standards in IHE[]
• Part 5. The Future of IHE
• Part 6. The Fellowship of IHE: Year 4 Additions and Extensions
• Using the IHE Scheduled Work Flow Integration Profile to Drive Modality Efficiency  
• Testing Tools developed to help implementers of IHE profiles in healthcare IT systems

Contact

For further information, contact RSNA staff at radiology@ihe.net.

Committee Co-Chairs

Planning Committee:  David Koff, MD, MIIRCAM; Michael Bohl, Radiology Group

Technical Committee:  Kinson Ho, Change Healthcare; Wim Corbijn van Willenswaard, Philips Healthcare