Road to "Filmless Radiology Hospital" at Masaryk Oncology Institute of Brno

Specification of the Client

The Masaryk Oncology Institute of Brno has a long tradition of treating cancer patients. The core research and treatment concentrates on breast cancer, malignant melanoma, digestive track tumor, testicle cancer, gynecological tumor, urinary bladder tumor, prostate cancer, and malignant lymphoma.
The count of CT diagnostic treatments performed is one of the highest in the Czech Republic (an average of 13 thousand treatments annually).
The department has 9 diagnostics rooms, which hold up to 60 thousand treatments a year. As of today, the Masaryk Oncology Institute of Brno is the first radiology workplace in the Czech Republic featuring fully digitalized equipment.

Project Objectives

The PACS network implementation will establish the radiology operations based on using filmless technology. It will enable the doctors to save imagery data from the various radiological modalities, as well as to jointly share them and analyze them, while maintaining significant attributes the Masaryk Oncology Institute of Brno has been known for:

• Multi-Professional Approach – the institute features diagnostics, surgical oncology, gynecology, radiotherapy and clinical oncology at one place. The solution has to be designed for a wide variety of professional medical services.
• Scientific Research Activity – by founding the Clinic of Comprehensive Oncology Treatment in 2001, the institute became an official branch of Masaryk University Medical School.
  The solution has to facilitate work activities of the research teams and it has to contribute to faster information processing.
• Reputation within the Region and the Czech Republic – thanks to its long tradition of oncology treatment, the institute serves as an educational facility for the undergraduate and graduate studies in oncology majors. The solution must allow utilization of images during the training seminars and lectures.

Description of the Solution

• Data Archive
  The Information Technology Institute of Masaryk University houses the central server running LINUX operating system and Hard Disk Array data storage with a capacity of nearly 9 TB. The AMIS*PACS Archive software package is installed on the server in order to enable archiving and management of imagery data and administration of user rights access. The AMIS*PACS Archive is fully compatible with DICOM 3.0 Standard.
• WWW Interface
  The server features a Web Interface for system administration, as well as for a simple access to imagery data. The images are therefore available for the clinical professionals whose offices are not equipped with special viewing devices.
• Interconnected Modalities
  Currently 18 modalities are interconnected within the PACS network. They all provide imagery information.
  However, not all devices are as technically advanced as to provide data access in the DICOM format. All devices were connected to the PACS network using different methods.
• Viewing Stations
  Medical professionals at Masaryk Oncology Institute of Brno now utilize approximately 30 radiological and clinical stations with various viewing software installed. They have an option to view MRI images captured on the equipment at Svatá Anna University Hospital.

Feedback from the Clients

"I consider as the most significant benefit of the entire project to be an improvement to our integrated patient care. The necessity to repeat radiological diagnostics is greatly minimized and the diagnoses are far more accurate. This will certainly contribute to an improved efficiency of the cancer treatment, as well as to an improved mental well-being of our patients."

MUDr. Pavel Andres
Deputy Director for LPP, MOÚ Brno

"Rapid access to information is certainly one of the greatest benefits of the project with regard to the speed at which the medical specialist can access images regardless of how remote the individual medical facilities are."

MUDr. Helena Bartoňková
Senior Medical Practitioner of RDG Department, MOÚ Brno