Researchers at Arizona State University (ASU) and Mayo Clinic have teamed up to develop DICOM Index Tracker, an imaging exam tracking system that provides a view of a patient’s radiation exposure over time.

DICOM Index Tracker (DIT) tracks all the information available in the images contained in a patient’s imaging studies (including dose, scanner utilization and other information) and compiles it. The enterprise tool for radiation dose tracking retrieves information and can be used as a tool for quality assurance, skin dose map generation and equipment efficiency assessment, said Teresa Wu, associate professor in the school of computing, informatics and decision systems engineering at ASU in Scottsdale.

DIT centralizes digital image information from imaging studies including mammography, CT scans, nuclear medicine and cardiac catheterization. The information then can be sorted by patient or procedure to assess the radiation dose and the number of treatments. Built-in alerting features ensure dosages are within limit guidelines.

“For the first time we can monitor all the patient records in a centralized fashion, and we can review quality assurance guidelines efficiently and conveniently,” said William Pavlicek, chair of diagnostic physics at Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale.