WORKING GROUPS

 

of the

 

DICOM Standards Committee

 

DICOM Standards Committee

Secretariat                                NEMA

Secretary                                  Howard Clark

how_clark@nema.org

Vendor Co-Chair                     David Clunie, MD, (RadPharm)

dclunie@dclunie.com

User Co-Chair                         Lloyd Hildebrand, MD, University of Oklahoma

Representing American Academy of Ophthalmology

lloyd-hildebrand@ouhsc.edu

 

Scope of the DICOM Standards Committee

 

The DICOM Standards Committee exists to create and maintain international standards for communication of biomedical diagnostic and therapeutic information in disciplines that use digital images and associated data.  The goals of DICOM are to achieve compatibility and to improve workflow efficiency between imaging systems and other information systems in healthcare environments worldwide.  DICOM is a cooperative standard.  Connectivity works because vendors cooperate in testing during scheduled public demonstration, over the Internet, and in private test sessions.  Every major diagnostic medical imaging vendor in the world has incorporated the standard into its product design, and most are actively participating in the enhancement of the standard.  Most of the professional societies throughout the world also support and participate in the enhancement of the standard.  DICOM is used, or will soon be used, by virtually every medical profession that utilizes images within the healthcare industry.  These include cardiology, dentistry, endoscopy, mammography, ophthalmology, orthopedics, pathology, pediatrics, radiation therapy, radiology, surgery, etc.  DICOM is even used in veterinary medical imaging applications.

 

 

 

Working Group 1 (Cardiac and Vascular Information)

Secretariat                                NEMA

Secretary                                  Howard Clark, NEMA

                                                how_clark@nema.org

Co-Chair                                  Jon Elion, MD, FACC, Heartlab

                                                jle@heartlab.com

Co-Chair                                  Harry Solomon, GE Medical Systems

                                                harry.solomon@med.ge.com

Date of Last Update:                July 6, 2001

 

Scope:

To develop standards for the digital interchange of the cardiovascular images, physiologic waveforms and core clinical information, which characterize a patient undergoing a catheterization procedure.

 

 

Working Group 3 (Nuclear Medicine)

Secretariat                                          NEMA

Secretary                                  Richard Eaton, NEMA

                                                ric_eaton@nema.org

Chair                                        Jeff Pohlhammer, Marconi Medical Systems

                                                jeff.pohlhammer@cle.philips.com

Date of Last Update:                December 31, 2001

Scope:

To develop standards for the digital interchange of nuclear medicine and PET images.

 

 

Working Group 4 (Compression)

Secretariat                                NEMA

Secretary                                  Howard Clark, NEMA

                                                how_clark@nema.org

Chair                                        Alan Rowberg, MD, University of Washington

                                                Representing American College of Radiology

                                                arowberg@earthlink.net

Date of Last Update:                July 6, 2001

Scope:

To provide data compression facilities for the DICOM standard and to advise on application or object-related definitions of data compression parts of the DICOM Standard created by other working groups.

 

 

WG 5 (Exchange Media)

Secretariat                                NEMA

Secretary                                  Howard Clark, NEMA

                                                how_clark@nema.org

Chair                                        David Clunie, MD, RadPharm

                                                dclunie@dclunie.com

Date of Last Update:                August 7, 2001

Scope:

To develop DICOM standards for interchange media.

 

 

WG 6 (Base Standard)

Secretariat                                NEMA

Secretary                                  Howard Clark, NEMA

                                                how_clark@nema.org

Chair                                        Andrei Leontiev, IDX Systems Corporation

                                                Andrei_Leontiev@idx.com

Date of Last Update:                June 12,2001

Scope:

WG6 maintains the overall consistence of the DICOM standard.  Some of the responsibilities include:

·        Execution the DICOM Maintenance Process (Correction Proposals).  The process is used to make “corrections and minor changes” to the current versions of the Standard.

·        Provision of technical coordination and guidance for all WGs.  This includes review and official approval before the Public Comment, Letter Ballot, and Final Text draft releases of all supplements.

·        Development of Supplements to the standard related to Print, Image Management, etc.

·        Coordination of joint development efforts with CEN, JIRA, and Medis DC.

 

 

WG 7 (Radiotherapy)

Secretariat                                NEMA

Secretary                                  Stephen Vastagh, NEMA

                                                ste_vastagh@nema.org

Chair                                        David Murray, TomoTherapy

                                                dmurray@tomotherapy.com

Date of Last Update:                July 6, 2001

Scope:

To develop and maintain radiotherapy information objects for the DICOM Standard and promote their implementation and acceptance within the industry.

 

 

WG 8 (Structured Reporting)

Secretariat                                College of American Pathologists

Secretary                                  John Kilbourne

                                                jkilbou@cap.org

Chair Pro Tem                          Frank Krickhan

                                                Frank.krickhahn@siemens.com

Date of Last Update:                December 31, 2001

Scope:

To develop and maintain the DICOM Structured Reporting specification and to collaborate with DICOM working groups and other standards development committees in the development of specialized reports and other documents based on the generic SR specification.

 

 

WG 9 (Ophthalmology)

Secretariat                                American Academy of Ophthalmology

Secretary                                  Flora Lum, MD, American Academy of Ophthalmology

                                                flum@aao.org

Co-Chair                                  Lloyd Hildebrand, MD, University of Oklahoma

                                                Representing American Academy of Ophthalmology

                                                lloyd-hildebrand@ouhsc.edu

Co-Chair                                  Rainer Waedlich, IFA Systems Group

                                                rwaedlich@ifasystems.de

Date of Last Update:                January 24, 2001

Scope:

To address all issues relating to imaging and reporting of image-based studies in ophthalmic applications.

 

 

WG 10 (Strategic Advisory)

Secretariat                                NEMA

Secretary                                  Howard Clark, NEMA

                                                how_clark@nema.org

Chair                                        Cor Loef, Philips Medical Systems

                                                                Cor.Loef@philips.com

Chair                                        Joel Chabriais, Societe Francaise de Radiologie

                                                joel.chabriais@nck.ap-hop-paris.fr

Date of Last Update:                July 6, 2001

Scope:

To consider issues and opportunities related to the strategic evolution of DICOM; to provide liaison to other standards developing organizations; to review standards and technology in healthcare, biomedical imaging, commerce, telecommunications, and informatics; and to develop and maintain the long-term strategic plan of the DICOM Standards Committee.

 

 

WG 11 (Display Function Standard)

Secretariat                                NEMA

Secretary                                  Howard Clark, NEMA

                                                how_clark@nema.org

Chair                                        Brad Hemminger, University of North Carolina

                                                bmh@ils.unc.edu

Date of Last Update:                December 31, 2001

Scope:

To develop a display function standard and DICOM services related to image presentation objects.

 

 

WG 12 (Ultrasound)

Secretariat                                NEMA

Secretary                                  Richard Eaton, NEMA

                                                ric_eaton@nema.org

Chair                                                     David Heaney, A.L.I.  Technologies Inc.

                                                dheaney@alitech.com

Date of Last Update:                November 30, 2000

Scope:

To develop extensions to DICOM that are specific to the needs of the ultrasound imaging community. This includes all aspects of ultrasound acquisition related workflow and generated data, such as single and multi-frame images, waveform data (doppler audio, phonocardiogram, voice, etc.) and measurements

 

 

WG 14 (Security)

Secretariat                                NEMA

Secretary                                  Howard Clark, NEMA

                                                how_clark@nema.org

Chair                                                     Lawrence Tarbox, Ph.D., Siemens Medical Systems

                                                Larry.Tarbox@scr.siemens.com

Date of Last Update:                December 31, 2001

Scope:

To develop extensions to DICOM with respect to security.

 

WG 15 (Digital Mammography)

Secretariat                                American College of Radiology

Secretary                                  Lynne Fairobent, ACR

                                                LynneF@acr.org

Co-Chair                                  Dr. Carl Vyborny, ACR/LaGrange Memorial Hospital

                                                CVYBES@aol.com

Co-Chair                                  Janet E. Keyes, R2 Technology, Inc.

                                                jkeyes@r2tech.com

Date of Last Update:                June 15, 2001

Scope:

To develop extensions to DICOM to support digital mammography and the structured reporting of Computer-Aided Detection / Diagnosis (CAD) results.

 

 

WG 16 (Magnetic Resonance)

Secretariat                                European DICOM Secretariat

Secretary                                  Hermine Hekker, NNI

                                                hermine.hekker@nni.nl

Co-Chair                                  To be determineed

Co-Chair                                  Kees Verduin, Philips Medical Systems

                                                kees.verduin@philips.com

Date of Last Update:                December 31, 2001

Scope:

Modern MR pulse sequences cannot be described sufficiently by the current standard. Furthermore, new applications such as functional MR and MR fluoroscopy, as well as the non-imaging application MR spectroscopy, are not supported either.  The organization of increasingly large datasets as single frame objects is far from optimal, and limitations of the existing definitions of spatial and temporal attributes are apparent.  It has therefore been proposed that a new MR object be developed that contains a more extensive set of descriptive attributes and makes use of the multi-frame mechanisms and/or variants thereof as originally introduced by the nuclear medicine, ultrasound and x-ray angiography objects.

 

 

WG 17 (3D)

Secretariat                                NEMA

Secretary                                  Richard Eaton, NEMA

                                                ric_eaton@nema.org

Chair                                        Doug Sluis, ATL

                                                doug.sluis@philips.com

Date of Last Update:                December 31, 2001

Scope:

To extend the DICOM Standard with respect to 3D and other multi-dimensional data sets.  WG17 is extending DICOM to represent data types greater than two dimensions.  In existing DICOM, the atomic unit of image data is the 2D frame.  Some emerging acquisition modalities (as well as 3D visualization and quantitative analysis applications) are volumetric-based.  These need a volumetric friendly representation.  Additionally, new diagnostic modalities may generate data with multiple components. Existing DICOM does not support this.

 

 

WG 18 (Clinical Trials and Education)

Secretariat                                National Cancer Institute

Secretary                                  Edward Staab, NIH

                                                staabe@mail.nih.gov

Co-Chair                                  Curtis Langlotz, University of Pennsylvania

                                                langlotz@rad.upenn.edu

Co-Chair                                  Andrew Kraus, BioCor

                                                akraus@beaconbioscience.com

Date of Last Update:                December 31, 2001

Scope:

To extend the DICOM Standard with respect to clinical trials information and the storage of images for educational purposes.

DICOM Working Group 18 was first convened in 1999 to address issues unique to the use of images in clinical trials and education.  The working group elected to focus, first, on clinical trials before devoting significant time to education and imaging teaching files.

In its initial meetings, the Working Group determined that there are several shortcomings of the current DICOM standard when it is used in the context of clinical trials.  First, there are no standard methods for “scrubbing” patient-identifying information from the DICOM header while retaining identifiers to reestablish the patient’s identity for audit purposes.  Second, a variety of clinical trials attributes are missing these include the ability to capture a unique subject identifier, the protocol for which an image was obtained and the sponsor of the clinical trial.  Third, even when some of this information is stored in optional fields, the storage arrangement varies according to vendor and frequently cannot be displayed on off-the-shelf workstations.  Fourth, certain common imaging parameters that are essential for the conduct of clinical trials, such as MR echo time and repetition time, are not stored in consistent locations.

 

 

WG 20 (Integration of Imaging and Information Systems)

Secretariat                                NEMA

Secretary                                  Howard Clark, NEMA

                                                how_clark@nema.org

Chair                                        Fred Behlen, Ph.D., LAI Technology

                                                Representing American College of Radiology

                                                fbehlen@laitek.com

Date of Last Update:                August 13, 2001

Scope:

To develop DICOM and HL7 standards for image-related information for areas where the consistent use of HL7 and DICOM is of prime concern.  Also, to provide the coordination and mutual education and understanding between the HL7 and DICOM organizations and their technical committees/working groups.

 

 

WG 21 (Computed Tomography)

Secretariat                                NEMA

Secretary                                  Howard Clark, NEMA

                                                how_clark@nema.org

Co-Chair                                  Stephen Metz, GE Medical Systems

                                                stephen.metz@med.ge.com

Co-Chair                                  Emil Wirsz, Siemens Medical Systems

                                                emil.wirsz@med.siemens.com

Date of Last Update:                July 6, 2001

Scope:

To develop an extended CT image object to support the many technological and clinical advances in Computed Tomography.  In particular, the increase in the number of slices in an exam and the real-time capabilities of CT technology makes it desirable to create a new DICOM object with a multi-frame capability.  Consistency with the MR Multi-Frame IOD under specification is important as many workstations support both CT and MR applications.  Consistency with the new XA Multi-frame IOD is also important so that Cardiology or Angiography applications can benefit from both CT and X-ray acquisitions.