Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany

Most patients undergoing treatment within the Department of Radiation Oncology and Radiation Therapy bring with them a large number of previous studies for therapy planning. This is supplemented by additional examinations as part of therapy monitoring between radiotherapy sessions. In addition, all examinations must be archived for 30 years because of potential long-term side effects of radiation therapy.

The quintessence: an unimaginable amount of data and a long, mandatory retention period. This raises the question of how data from 30 years ago can be read today? It is not easy to keep data in a consistent and readable format over such a long period of time. It can only be done in a neutral format.

Wanted: PACS with reliable long-term archive

Due to the challenges of long-term archiving, combined with the fact that the old Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) was becoming too slow for the huge volume of data, the TUM requested and later purchased a product from IMAGE Information Systems.

The iQ-WEB PACS software of this medical device manufacturer archives study data according to international standards, including IHE and DICOM. Thus, it ensures, beyond the legal requirements of long-term archiving, that data is stored securely and remains readable for more than 100 years. Continuous background data checks by iQ-WEB detect potential inconsistencies, such as images without a database entry. This is an important factor in image data quality management.