MIRCMIRCMedical Imaging Medical Imaging Resource CenterResource Center

A Tour of the MIRC CommunityA Tour of the MIRC Community

Rex Jakobovits, PhDRex Jakobovits, PhDAffiliate Professor, University of WashingtonAffiliate Professor, University of Washington

President, Vivalog Technologies*President, Vivalog Technologies*

*Vivalog is a provider of commercial teaching file solutions*Vivalog is a provider of commercial teaching file solutions

Slides contributed by John Perry and Rodney ShafferSlides contributed by John Perry and Rodney Shaffer

The Objective:The Objective:

Support the production, storage, indexing and distribution of medical imaging resources:– Teaching files

– Scientific & technical documentation

– Research images & datasets

– Clinical trials data

Approach:Approach:

• Enable a virtual community– of medical image libraries – with a distributed index– supporting a distributed search

mechanism

• Peer-to-peer sharing, like Napster

An open community of medical imaging libraries and teaching files around the world, cooperating by sharing information through a common query format

MIRCMIRC

Searching Imaging Resources,Searching Imaging Resources, B.M. (Before MIRC) B.M. (Before MIRC)

• Google– Unstructured, free text

• No way to specify “give me chest x-rays on male patients with pneumonia”

– Hit and miss, inconsistent results• No way to say “just give me teaching

files, not random web pages”

Searching Imaging Resources,Searching Imaging Resources, B.M. (Before MIRC) B.M. (Before MIRC)

• Browse isolated collections– No way to query across systems

– Need to learn heterogeneous query interfaces

– Results not aggregated

Searching Image Resources, Searching Image Resources, A.M. (Age of MIRC)A.M. (Age of MIRC)

• A unified query interface– Structured querying across

multiple repositories

– Results aggregated in a case browser

– Control over how results are displayed

• http://mirc.rsna.org

How does it work?How does it work?

• MIRC committee defined some important standards:– MIRCDocument Schema– MIRCQuery Schema

• Each repository can participate as a MIRC Storage Service, responding to queries from any MIRC Query Service

MIRC SitesMIRC Sites

InternetInternet

ServerServer

Index

ServerServer

IndexMIRC site B

ServerServer

Index

QueryService

MIRC site CServerServer

Index

RSNA site

User

MIRC site A

MIRC – a technical definitionMIRC – a technical definition

• MIRC is defined to be a set of servers (query services and storage services) that support: – the MIRCquery and

– MIRCqueryresult XML schemas

• MIRC places no constraints on how servers display their contents

Query ServicesQuery Services

• Provide users with query forms.

• Translate a query form into a MIRCquery XML object.

• Distribute the MIRCquery to all selected Storage Services.

• Collate the results and return them to the user.

Storage ServicesStorage Services

• Respond to queries from Query Services and serve content to users.

• Each storage service maintains its own index

• Each storage service is responsible for the display format of its content

Casimage Case DisplayCasimage Case DisplayCasimage Case DisplayCasimage Case Display

MedPix Case DisplayMedPix Case DisplayMedPix Case DisplayMedPix Case Display

MyPACS.net Case DisplayMyPACS.net Case DisplayMyPACS.net Case DisplayMyPACS.net Case Display

Neuroscience Institute DisplayNeuroscience Institute DisplayNeuroscience Institute DisplayNeuroscience Institute Display

RSNA Case DisplayRSNA Case DisplayRSNA Case DisplayRSNA Case Display

Unknown QueryUnknown Query

• Can use for teaching cases– Resident board preparation

– Test skills in a specific modality or organ system

Unknown QueryUnknown QueryUnknown QueryUnknown Query

Unknown Query ResultUnknown Query ResultUnknown Query ResultUnknown Query Result

Unknown Query ResultUnknown Query ResultUnknown Query ResultUnknown Query Result

How can I participate in MIRC?How can I participate in MIRC?

1. Create cases using a free web-based MIRC teaching file authoring system

• MyPACS.net, Medpix, etc.

Adding Images to a CaseAdding Images to a Case

How can I participate in MIRC?How can I participate in MIRC?

1. Create cases using a free web-based MIRC teaching file authoring system

2. Create MircDocuments with the free RSNA MIRCat, and upload them to a MIRC storage provider

MIRCat – the Editor paneMIRCat – the Editor pane

MIRCat – the Display paneMIRCat – the Display pane

MIRCat – the ACR code paneMIRCat – the ACR code pane

MIRCat – the PaletteMIRCat – the Palette

The Image EditorThe Image Editor

MIRCat – the SelectorMIRCat – the Selector

MIRCat – DICOM Q/RMIRCat – DICOM Q/R

MIRCat – DICOM StoreMIRCat – DICOM Store

Case Case submissionsubmission

The Finished ProductThe Finished ProductThe Finished ProductThe Finished Product

How can I participate in MIRC?How can I participate in MIRC?

1. Create cases using a free web-based MIRC teaching file authoring system

2. Create MircDocuments with the free RSNA MIRCat, and upload them to a MIRC storage provider

3. Become a MIRC Storage Provider

The RSNA MIRC SoftwareThe RSNA MIRC Software

• Query ServiceQuery Service

• Storage ServiceStorage Service

Storage Service servletStorage Service servlet

Submit Service servletSubmit Service servlet

Admin Service servletAdmin Service servlet

XML Server servletXML Server servlet

The RSNA MIRC Site SoftwareThe RSNA MIRC Site Software

• Serves all kinds of MIRC documents

• Runs on all platforms• Personal/departmental teaching

file system• Clinical trials support coming

soon• Free / open source

MIRC as a data exchange MIRC as a data exchange formatformat

• We use MIRCDocument standard for publishing cases to MyPACS.net from other applications

RadPixCustomer

Server

MyPACS.net

PACSPartner

Working with a MIRC Solutions Working with a MIRC Solutions ProviderProvider

• Vivalog Technologies, providing added-value MIRC-enabled solutions

Questions/Answers & HelpQuestions/Answers & Help

• RSNA Forums:– http://forums.rsna.org

– User Comments, Questions and Answers

– RSNA MIRC Software Announcements

– MIRC Implementers’ Corner

– MIRC Technical Review Committee

• Subscribe on the Forums site

Other Courses This WeekOther Courses This Week

• How to Author MIRC How to Author MIRC Teaching File DocumentsTeaching File Documents

• How to Set Up a Personal How to Set Up a Personal Teaching File SystemTeaching File System

• Inside the RSNA MIRC Inside the RSNA MIRC SoftwareSoftware