Current Status and Problems of PET/CT Data on CD for Inter-hospital Transfer

Hyun, Seung Hyup; Choi, Joon Young; Lee, Su Jin; Cho, Young Seok; Lee, Ji Young; Cheon, Miju; Cho, Suk Kyong; Lee, Kyung Han; Kim, Byung Tae

Abstract

PURPOSE: This study was performed to find the current problems of positron emission tomography / computed tomography (PET/CT) data on CD for inter-hospital transfer.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The subjects were 746 consecutive 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose PET/CT data CDs from 56 hospitals referred to our department for image interpretation. The formats and contents of PET/CT data CDs were reviewed and the email questionnaire survey about this was performed.
RESULTS
PET/CT data CDs from 21 of 56 hospitals (37.5%) included all transaxial CT and PET images with DICOM standard format which were required for authentic interpretation. PET/CT data from the others included only secondary capture images or fusion PET/CT images. According to this survey, the main reason of limited PET/CT data on CD for inter-hospital transfer was that the data volume of PET/CT was too large to upload to the Picture Archiving and Communication System.
CONCLUSION
The majority of hospitals provided limited PET/CT data on CD for inter-hospital transfer, which could be inadequate for accurate interpretation and clinical decision making. It is necessary to standardize the format of PET/CT data on CD for inter-hospital transfer including all transaxial CT and PET images with DICOM standard format.