Informatics in radiology: use of the MIRC DICOM service for clinical trials to automatically create teaching file cases from PACS.

The Medical Imaging Resource Center (MIRC) software of the Radiological Society of North America is used to share teaching files and clinical trial data. By using the MIRC service for clinical trials, teaching file cases can be automatically generated directly from picture archiving and communication systems (PACS). The advantage of using the clinical trials service over the authoring service is the need for minimal user intervention, because data already present in the Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) header can be automatically inserted into teaching file cases. When reading a case on the PACS workstation, the radiologist needs only to select the images for the teaching file case, write the diagnosis in the "Study Comments" box (usually used for "wet" readings), and send the case to the MIRC server directly from the workstation. The MIRC server automatically makes the images anonymous and fills in the modified teaching file template by using the data in the DICOM header (patient age, patient sex, clinical history, diagnosis, imaging modality, organ system), thus creating a simple teaching file. If desired, the teaching file case can be edited at a later time. By making minor modifications to the MIRC DICOM clinical trials service, it is possible to create teaching file cases with minimal effort. Supplemental material available at radiographics.rsnajnls.org/cgi/content/full/27/1/269/DC1. Copyright RSNA, 2007.