DapCare

Objectives

As medical practices frequently use ionising radiation for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes, this project is developing tools for collecting, archiving and optimising patient dosimetry data. The goals are to propose practical solutions to specific problems encountered in the radiation protection domain and to promote the exchange of standardised data.

While the safety of healthcare professionals exposed to the dangers of ionizing radiation has long since been regulated, the monitoring of patient dosimetry is still in its infancy and is an emerging problem due to the rapid development of medical imaging techniques.

Results

The software solution produced by CETIC embodies the following key features; a state-of-the-art dosimetric data exchange to enable access to dosimetry harvested locally at individual institutions and those stored at other institutions via web services and a comparative analysis of Belgian and French and international standards, KMEHR-Bis and IHE-REM and DICOM RDSR (Radiation Dose Structured Report) respectively. Hospital practices for managing dosimetric data have also been collected and analysed in the light of these standards, to identify shortcomings with the aim of improving the interoperability of dosimetric data within Belgium and France. For Belgium, the software necessary to manage dosimetries and an application server exchange between sites to integrate the standards and technologies in Walloon Health Network, is being implemented. For France, the Patient Dosimetry eBook will be used to exchange patient dosimetric data.

Added value

The DAPCare software for healthcare institutions enables the exchange of standardised patient dosimetry at both national and international levels.