Reading studies

[TOC]
If you need to set up the database, look here.

Read Database

The usual way to query the database is via Patient Name/ID. In my tiny database, I could query is on a single letter r, but in a hosptial the first few letters of the name are used. Several patients were found who fit the query (the letters of the name following r together with ID are blackened out for privacy). Another very common method is to use the ID, but in that case the entire ID must be entered. Other queries include study or series name, date and teaching studies.

For name/ID the default date range is from 1980 until today. For study and series, the range defaults to the last 30 days. For date it defaults to today only.

The date is color coded, with "recent" studies being green and "old" studies being red. (The definition of "recent" is set in the Setup tab.)

There is a second color which can appear. Note in the green set there is a cyan entry and in the red set a magenta entry. The Brown fat, originally developed for brown fat but later extended to general ROI work, is indicated by the alternate colors. This allows the user to know, even before loading the studies, which Pet-Ct studies have been analyzed and which have not.

These studies have folder icons in the series column. This means that there is more than a single series. If you want to read the whole study, just highlight the study (studies) of interest and press the Read button. On the other hand if you want only certain series, click on the icon folder and the individual series will be listed. Again, you highlight what you want and press Read.

The Clear button erases from memory and studies previously read. This is a convenience compared to X'ing out individual studies.

Save for Conference

The Save for Conference serves a dual purpose: 1) save studies to be shown at a conference when you are not connected to the database and 2) save data which you are reading while you are at home or at a remote location with a relatively poor Internet connection.

While preparing for a conference you bring up various studies and you decide this is what you want to show at the conference. You press Save for Conference and the current studies which are being displayed will be saved. To be safe, the original data is reread for the chosen Read from CD location. This is chosen in the Setup tab. Since the database will be unavailable at the conference, Read from CD will be used there.

It is quite common for trusted employees to be able to access the LAN from remote locations via the Internet. Unfortunately this can be quite slow. The second use of Save for Conference is to address this problem. While at home or some other remote location you may want to prepare for a conference or simply read studies. You are aware of the speed problem and want to spend as little time on the Internet connection as is possible. Thus before you have read anything you press the Save for Conference button. Since the memory is clean, it toggles and remains pressed. Now anything you read will be saved in the Read from CD location as well. (Note: Since Orthanc compressed files are decompressed "on the fly", compressed files will not be saved using the toggle function. For compressed Orthanc, use the simple press of Save for Conference, not the toggle mode.)

Even if you are called to dinner in the middle of a download, you can turn off the computer. When you come back you will toggle the Save for Conference button and do your read again. It will look at what you are about to read and if the particular slice is saved to the Read from CD location, it will be read from there and not via the Internet connection. Thus all the data, including the partial study, will be read super fast with only the remaining unread slices to be suffered from the Internet connection. It is also useful if you want to reread a study you closed. As long as the data exists on disk, it will be read from there, even though you think you are reading it from the database. It is as if you suddenly have a super fast connection to the database.

Save MIP

Calculating the MIP (Maximum Intensity Projection) can be a time consuming process, especially for newer studies with larger PET studies. While the MIP has to be calculated once, it can be saved so that subsequent reads will only need to read the previously calculated MIP, rather than recalculating it.

When a PET-CT study is read in, either a MIP data series is read in or not. If not the MIP is calculated and a Save MIP button will appear before the Read and Clear buttons . If you press this button the MIP will be saved to the database.

The usual process when reading a study is to click on the entire study and read everything. The other option is to click on , which shows the individual series. Within the series you should see MIP data. Be sure to include this series. If not, the MIP will need to be recalculated.