Clinical Data Mining in Small Hospital PACS: Contributions for Radiology Department Improvement

Technological developments in the medical imaging acquisition and storage process have triggered the use of PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication Systems) with gradually larger archives. Nowadays, there is data stored in the DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine) file that is not searchable using the traditional PACS database. However, it may represent an important source of information for continuous professional practice improvement. The use of DICOM Data Mining tools has been a valuable asset to analyze the information stored in the DICOM file and can result in gathering important data for the professional practice improvement. These tools can also contribute to the PACS information audit and facilitate access to relevant clinical data within programs for quality continuous improvement. By allowing the construction of multiple views over data repository in a flexible and quickly way and with the possibility to export data for further statistical analysis, Dicoogle permits the identification of data and process inconsistencies that can contribute to radiology department improvement, such as in dose surveillance and patient safety programs and image quality control initiatives. However, the assessment of relevant data for practice improvement must take into account several factors related to the informational environment, professional reality, and healthcare goals and mission. This chapter describes a method to examine and perform studies over a medical imaging repository. Moreover, a case study of a small hospital where the obtained results are discussed is shown. Clinical Data Mining in Small Hospital PACS: Contributions for Radiology Department Improvement