Hi all,
the mobile app SAP EMR Unwired is available on the market and is used in different constellations. But in all of them, images are one of the killer features. So the integration of the PACS is of tremendous importance. (On the other hand side - simple PACS viewers lack the rest of an "integrating app" features...)
After finishing the first 10 SAP EMR Unwired implementation projects conducted by SAP Consulting Germany, the time has come for an initial summary. Assumed before as one of the most critical parts - the connectivity to the PACS of the respective customer should be in focus here.
11 PAC systems at 9 customers (one system inhouse, one customer has changed the PACS) has been connected to the SAP EMR Unwired Middleware:
- 4x Agfa (2x newer version EE w/ WADO)
- 3x GE
- 2x Sectra
- 1x VISUS JiveX (w/ WADO)
- 1x dcm4che (inhouse)
Generally, the implementation goes straight forward. At least there are also some problems I don't want to conceal. They can be categorized as follows:
Installation problems
- Especially registration settings were set incorrectly in the PACS.
Our PACS adapter (rfc2dicom) has to be registered as a "DICOM node" in the PACS. When the person has been found at customer side, who knows it and is allowed to do this - the problem is usually fixed.
Severe problems (DICOM communication)
- Query of image metadata is not supported (as defined in DICOM standard; 1 system).
- Selected studies / images will not be returned via DICOM (as defined in DICOM standard; 2 systems)
- Serial ID's for a study are not unique (as defined in DICOM standard; 1 system)
For all these topics the special PACS vendor is working on fixing the problems. We have implemented temporary work arounds.
Slight problems (DICOM communikation / rfc2dicom adapter / dcm4che library)
- German accents in study descriptions are not transmitted correctly (1 system)
In order to avoid problems with other PACS communication partners - all they have the same problem - the customer decided to avoid accents (ä->ae etc.) - Images were incorrectly (black) displayed.
LUT problem; fixed in rfc2dicom adapter - One selected image can not be converted from DICOM to Jpg (dcm4che library)
It seems to be a bug in the DICOM library (dcm4che) we are using. It has been occured for one image only. When finding more images, we create a ticket at the library vendors side.
Feature requests from customer side
- Suppression of empty trials
- Suppression of leading zeros in patients numbers
- MOVE runs on other AET as requested
- Suppression of selected SOPs (special types of PACS images)
All these requests have been implemented and can be used in further installations.
In overall, the connectivity was not difficult as expected from other interface projects I have done before.
So when you think about to use SAP EMR Unwired, don't worry about the "killer feature" PACS integration.
Best regards,
Gert
