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The Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) archive is a dynamic component of a clinician image-related workflow solution.

The authors investigated clinician transactions against the Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) archive within a clinical image management system (CIMS) in support of patient care. A Neurosurgical Oncology practice was audited for image utilization. There were 400 requests for 233 image studies during 297 sessions. Fifty percent were for current studies, and 50% were for historical studies. Current studies alone were requested in 37% of the sessions, current plus historical in 31%, and historical alone in 32% of the sessions. Seventy percent of studies were within 8 weeks old and were rapidly available from the CIMS disk cache without an archive image transaction. Conversely, 30% were older than 8 weeks, requiring a clinician transaction against the archive for image retrieval. Approximately 25% of studies were older than 3 months and 10% older than 6 months. Clinician image needs are complex and any CIMS solution must include a DICOM archive that can support clinician-based transactions.

Database Management Systems↗

E-DIMEM: an economic model to estimate the costs of e-disease management.

In order to estimate the cost of generic clinical guidelines based on telemedicine services for chronic patients, an economic model (E-DIMEM) has been defined. This model is designed to help health suppliers and managers to plan for the future. It is essentially a workflow composed by diagnosis and therapeutic activities. The cost of each workflow activity is related to healthcare providers (activity agents), drugs, instruments, telemedicine services, and type of specialized healthcare centers used (hospital, clinics, etc.). This model performs multidimensional analysis. A web service based on the E-DIMEM has been implemented.

Clinical Protocols↗

Integration of radiologist peer review into clinical review workstation.

Professional peer review of random prior radiologist's interpretations is mandated by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). The JCAHO expects documentation of 5% rate of random peer-review cases. Countless hours are spent in departments fulfilling these requirements. The integration of the peer-review process into the radiologist's interpretation workflow was expected to increase the percentage of documented peer review, yet decrease the time and effort for this documentation. radStation clinical review workstations are deployed at every reading station. When a requisition is bar-coded, radStation retrieves the patient's clinical information and automatically displays the prior comparison report. If the radiologist agrees with the prior report, a single click on a "quality assurance' agree box documents the agreement. In the case of a discordance, an additional dialog box automatically appears and the radiologist enters the reason for disagreement and then submits the case as a discrepancy. The system holds the discordance for 3 to 5 working days, then notifies the original radiologist via E-mail that a prior interpretation has been submitted for peer review, lists the submitted discrepancy reason, and provides a link to display the discordant report. The peer-review database is separate from the existing radiology information system (RIS). At the end of every month, summary reports of all peer-review activity are generated automatically. Initial benchmarks of our deployed system anticipate documentation of long-term random peer-review rate at greater than 50% of interpreted cases. The system enhances the peer-review process by integrating it with the normal interpretation workflow. The time to complete peer review using radStation is less than 1 second per normal case and less than 60 seconds for a discordant case. The E-mail notification system is fully automated, eliminating the need for secretarial involvement in the data collection. This system has completely replaced a manual paper-based system. The integration of peer review directly into the radiologist's interpretation workstation greatly enhances the capability to easily exceed JCAHO standards. The overall increase in peer-review documentation should continue to improve the ability to document a consistent high quality of patient care.

Computer Communication Networks↗

Documenting data delivery: design, deployment, and decision.

Developing and deploying informatics solutions which are useful and acceptable to busy physicians are challenging tasks. We describe the design, deployment, and evaluation process by which the delivery of routine clinical laboratory reports is automated using electronic mail. Data from TMR, an operational computer-based patient record (CPR), are presented to providers using an individualized, modern interface. This system is compared to the existing, paper-based system for delivery of data from the same CPR. Differences between the two systems of data delivery are analyzed, with emphases on 1) electronic documentation of data delivery and receipt, 2) electronic and/or paper documentation of clinical action taken as a result of laboratory reports, 3) timeliness of report availability, 4) costs, 5) workflow compatibility, and 6) physician satisfaction. The new delivery system employs inexpensive, commercially available software applications and entails only trivial changes to the proprietary CPR. Built into the new system are features which allow quantitative measurements of its performance for analysis along with survey-based user satisfaction data. The open systems design is deliberately non-proprietary, inexpensive, and generalizable. Accordingly, it offers practical possibilities for settings in which clinical information systems are just being planned, as well as for those in which such systems are already established.

Clinical Laboratory Information Systems↗

Managing the tensions between national standardization vs. regional localization of clinical content and templates.

The deployment of sophisticated software tools and electronic health records offers many new opportunities and challenges to support care delivery. One of the key opportunities is to enhance the quality of care with evidence-based medicine (EBM). One of the key challenges is to embed EBM in tools that directly facilitate the process of documentation and care delivery. Since clinicians typically have the option of using free text for most of their documentation, the tools that provide embedded EBM must be at least as efficient as free text. There are many requirements that must be met in order to effectively embed EBM within clinical content tools and enhance both the usability and the actual use of such tools and clinical content: (1) Facilitate the documentation process; (2) Facilitate the care delivery process, e.g. make order entry faster; (3) Contain recommendations that are highly relevant to the clinical context of an encounter; (4) Aid in the capture of discrete coded data. Support for local variation is often key to meeting these objectives and becomes a central factor in helping clinicians shift from unstructured free text, to the use of these tools, which support the delivery of EBM. This document describes the central tension between the objective of national standardization and delivery of EBM and the need for regional localization of clinical content. This tension must be thoughtfully managed to maximize the quality of care delivery and associated workflow practices. The key elements of legitimate local variation that must be recognized in order to achieve these goals are described in this document, and the key principles for managing the tensions between generalization and localization are identified.

Decision Support Systems, Clinical↗

Mapping the de-implementation of traditional diagnostic tests in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

INTRODUCTION: Advances in cancer diagnostics raise questions about when and how to de-implement traditional approaches; however, these processes remain poorly described. At St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (SJCRH), routine conventional cytogenetics for pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) diagnosis was de-implemented in 2018 following adoption of clinical genomics. This study aimed to map this process to inform future diagnostic de-implementation initiatives. METHODS: Interviews were conducted with SJCRH staff involved or impacted by cytogenetics de-implementation. Data were analyzed using thematic and rapid qualitative analysis informed by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research. Member-checking was used to verify and refine process maps, which were subsequently reviewed by an external expert panel, representing diverse settings, through focus group discussions. RESULTS: Thirteen SJCRH clinicians participated. De-implementation was described as successful, with no negative impact on patient outcomes. Decision-making began with internal correlation studies that demonstrated superior diagnostic performance of clinical genomics. De-implementation was viewed as a natural evolution that improved molecular classification, resource allocation, and workflow efficiency. Perceived risks included loss of cytogenetics competency, delayed turnaround time, and career insecurity, all addressed institutionally. Lessons learned highlighted the importance of deliberate discussion about logic and evidence supporting de-implementation. Fifteen external experts offered suggestions to improve process map generalizability, highlighting institutional- and system-level considerations. CONCLUSION: De-implementation of cytogenetics in ALL in favor of clinical genomics was successful at SJCRH. This study offers an example of diagnostic de-implementation in cancer care and proposes a structured approach to guide future efforts. De-implementation should be considered alongside introduction of novel diagnostic approaches.

cancer diagnostics↗

A cognitive blueprint of collaboration in context: distributed cognition in the psychiatric emergency department.

OBJECTIVE: The complex cognitive processes that underlie human performance in 'messy' contexts such as critical care medicine suggest a need for a cognitive model with broad scope to support the understanding of error in such domains. The objective of this research is to characterize the cognition that underlies patient care in the domain of emergency psychiatry in order to enhance the understanding of error in this context. METHODS AND MATERIALS: The theoretical framework of distributed cognition has been used to study collaborative decision-making in a number of similarly complex environments such as airline cockpits and air traffic control towers. These environments share certain characteristics with the critical care domain: the work is collaborative in nature, it is supported by artifacts that can be studied directly, and the consequences of error are dire. However, the nature of the work in this domain and the artifacts used to support it are unique. The application of the theoretical constructs of distributed cognition to this context is necessary in order to characterize the collective thinking that underlies critical care. Our research uses a combination of ethnographic and interview data to derive a distributed cognitive model of the psychiatric emergency department (PED), a high volume clinical unit dealing exclusively with the acute phases of psychiatric crises. The dynamics of workflow within the department are complex: several types of clinician collaborate by forming temporary multidisciplinary teams that attach to and manage particular patients. The component members of these teams change over time. RESULTS: Using the theoretical framework of distributed cognition, we interpreted the collected data to derive a cognitive model of the distribution of work and information flow in the PED. This modeling process has revealed several latent flaws in the system related to the underlying distribution of cognition across teams, time, space and artifacts. CONCLUSIONS: The characterization of this distribution has enhanced our understanding of the cognitive dynamics underlying error in this environment, and will serve to guide future research on error management in the ED and inform the development of context-appropriate error-management systems.

Artificial Intelligence↗

Are you ready for the computer-based patient record?

Moving to a computer-based patient record (CPR) involves much more than simply putting computers in clinical offices. To achieve success, a health care organization must rethink and revise traditional workflows and organizational structures. Diverse constituencies within an organization must be targeted to gain buy-in to the process. Other considerations include cost justification and implementation strategies. Current market dynamics suggest that organizations should be contemplating the move to a CPR in order to gain competitive advantage or even to maintain the status quo.

Ambulatory Care Information Systems↗

Implementation of an integrated "record and verify" system for data and images in radiotherapy.

In November 1999, new radiotherapy and medical physics departments began to operate in our institution. In the departments' project, considerable emphasis had been placed on the integration of the equipment through networking. In particular, a "record and verify" (R&V) system for data and images (Varian "Varis" and "Vision") has been employed in the daily routine since the beginning of treatments. After one year, more than 600 patients have been treated, and a first evaluation of the system can be carried out. In clinical practice, the software required no significant changes in the already-established radiotherapy workflow and has been successfully configured in an acceptable time. On the other hand, the way information is exchanged and shared has dramatically changed towards a nearly paperless and filmless way of working. A good application reliability has been experienced, and the client-server structure has been proven useful by avoiding loss of data in critical situations. The staff time spent for the application to run is now well balanced by the increased safety in daily practice, and digital archiving of all the radiotherapy activity has increased the effectiveness of routine tasks and statistical researches. The critical aspects we have experienced in the application are the proper user rights definition and a minor rounding error in the daily dose accumulation. Future developments in implementation of the system will be aimed to a better integration with the Hospital Information System and to a further exploitation of the RT-PACS features of the "Vision" application.

Humans↗

Computerized physician order entry and online decision support.

Computerized physician order entry (CPOE) and decision support systems (DSS) can reduce certain types of error but often slow clinicians and may increase other types of error. The net effect of these systems on an emergency department (ED) is unknown. The consensus participants combined published evidence with expert opinion to outline recommendations for success. These include seamless integration of CPOE and DSS into systems and workflow; ensuring access to Internet-based and other online support material in the clinical arena; designing systems specifically for the ED and measuring their impact to ensure an overall benefit; ensuring that CPOE systems provide error and interaction checking and facilitate weight- and physiology-based dosing; using interruptive alerts only for the highest-severity events; providing a simple, vendor-independent interface for institutional customization of CPOE alert thresholds; maximizing the use of automated systems and passive data capture; and ensuring the widespread availability of CPOE and DSS using secure wireless and portable technologies where appropriate. Decisions regarding CPOE and DSS in the ED should be guided by the ED chair or designee. Much of what is believed to be true regarding CPOE and DSS has not been adequately studied. Additional CPOE and DSS research is needed quickly, and this research should receive funding priority. DSS and CPOE hold great promise to improve patient care, but not all systems are equal. Evidence must guide these efforts, and the measured outcomes must consider the many factors of quality care.

Decision Support Systems, Clinical↗

Simulation of a stroke unit careflow.

This paper describes the development and use of a simulation model representing part of the medical practice within a Stroke Unit. In particular, we modelled the medical activities as described in a guideline for the ischemic stroke treatment, adopted by the Stroke Unit of our hospital. The Petri net formalism has been chosen for the model representation. The numerical parameters have been estimated both using a database of about 100 patients collected during the last two years, and eliciting knowledge from the neurologists. A commercial tool was used for performing simulations, while ad-hoc routines were written for tailoring the result presentation to the specific context. We consider simulation a very useful preliminary step for the subsequent implementation of a patient workflow (careflow) management system. In fact, simulation is based on the process model (the clinical practice guideline) and on the organisation model (human and technological resources), so allowing to detect bottlenecks in the care delivery organisation and to find the optimal resource allocation. For example, we show that simulation has been able to find some of the causes of the delay in the patients treatment, and accordingly, to suggest changes in the organisation.

Brain Ischemia↗

Sharing clinical information. principles and task-oriented solutions.

Increasing cooperation among health professionals--within and across organizations--require a suitable sharing of clinical information from heterogeneous (electronic) documentation. Information originates from healthcare activities and may be organized within record systems in relation to health issues, episodes of care, episodes of illness, etc. Implementation of record systems depends on tasks and attitudes within each particular healthcare environment, that determine (i) the balance among functions of the record system, e.g. supporting human memory and decision making, supporting workflow management, recording circumstances about stored data, (ii) the particular organization of a record, (iii) the details of clinical statements that should be explicit or understood. In this paper we present a set of features of record systems and of their context that affect sharing of clinical information.

Confidentiality↗

Optimized GMP-grade production of non-viral Sleeping Beauty-generated CARCIK cells for enhanced fitness and clinical scalability.

BACKGROUND: Strict adherence to GMP guidelines and regulatory compliance is crucial when transitioning from research to clinical-grade production of ATMPs like CAR T cells. The success of CAR T cell therapy in treating hematological malignancies highlights the need for closed or automated systems to ensure quality and efficacy. Recent evidence also suggests that ex vivo culture conditions can significantly impact CAR T cell functionality. METHODS: We present our optimized methodology for expanding Sleeping Beauty transposon-engineered Chimeric Antigen Receptor-Cytokine-Induced Killer (CARCIK) cells using G-Rex devices and evaluate its impact on CARCIK cell phenotype and T cell fitness. RESULTS: Building on our previously validated protocol, we introduced key simplifications to optimize the CARCIK differentiation process. Delaying the nucleofection step eliminated the need for feeder cells while maintaining efficient CAR expression and high cell viability. Transitioning from T-flasks to G-Rex bioreactors reduced operator hands-on time from 21 to 28 days to 14-17 days and resulted in a less differentiated CARCIK cell product. Metabolic and transcriptional analyses showed that the novel protocol improves CARCIK cell fitness and in vivo efficacy against B-cell lymphoma. The novel method was validated in Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) conditions at our two Cell Factories and yielded enough numbers of CARCIK-CD19 cells for clinical use. CONCLUSIONS: Optimizing non-viral CARCIK cell production using G-Rex bioreactors and refined timing adjustments has streamlined the workflow, enhanced cell fitness, and resulted in a highly effective therapeutic product with demonstrated in vivo efficacy in mice. These improvements reduced manipulation and contamination risks, while optimizing logistics and space efficiency, facilitating allogeneic CARCIK generation for a current phase I/II clinical trial (NCT05869279) in patients with R/R CD19 + non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (B-cell NHL) and Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL), confirming the approach's scalability and clinical potential.

Humans↗

DNA methylation biomarkers for early detection of ovarian cancer.

Ovarian cancer (OC) remains difficult to detect at an early stage, and current screening approaches using CA125 and transvaginal ultrasonography have not demonstrated sufficient benefit for population screening. DNA methylation is a promising biomarker class because epigenetic alterations may arise early in tumourigenesis, can be detected in circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA), and may provide tissue-of-origin information. This review critically evaluates recent evidence on DNA methylation biomarkers for early OC detection. PubMed/MEDLINE, Web of Science, and Scopus were searched for studies published between January 2020 and September 2025, supplemented by selected earlier studies of biological or methodological relevance. Evidence was synthesised across single-gene biomarkers, multi-locus panels, genome-wide signatures, assay platforms, and machine-learning classifiers, with emphasis on early-stage performance, histological representation, comparator populations, analytical methodology, and validation design. Single-gene markers such as BRCA1, RASSF1A, OPCML, HOXA9, and HIC1 show variable performance, while multi-gene and classifier-based approaches generally provide stronger discrimination. However, many studies remain limited by retrospective case-control designs, small FIGO stage I-II subsets, predominance of serous disease, and insufficient prospective validation. Integration with CA125 may improve sensitivity but can reduce specificity, which is critical in low-prevalence screening. Clinical translation will therefore require minimal and reproducible methylation signatures, standardised low-input cfDNA workflows, rigorous external validation, and prospective longitudinal evaluation in intended-use populations.

Humans↗

VisPan: real-time visualisation of multiplex amplicon-based sequencing panels for rapid syndromic surveillance and pathogen detection.

MOTIVATION: Infectious diseases persist as a major global public health challenge. Diverse factors, including climate change, globalization, deforestation, human-animal interactions, lifestyle choices, and various biological factors, can contribute to their emergence and reemergence. Rapid detection and characterization of (re)emerging pathogens are therefore critical for effective outbreak management and for enhancing our understanding of epidemics by monitoring the transmission, spread, evolution, and genomics of pathogens. In this context, next-generation sequencing technologies (NGS), particularly long-read platforms such as Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT), have opened new avenues for real-time pathogen monitoring. However, the bioinformatics bottleneck remains a challenge, emphasizing the need for efficient, accessible, and user-friendly analysis tools. RESULTS: Here, we present a tool adapted from the RAMPART software that enables real-time data visualisation of multiplex PCR syndromic panels combined with Oxford Nanopore sequencing. This real-time analysis enables rapid pathogen detection, from raw data acquisition to taxonomic assignment, within minutes. The interface offers dynamic visual tracking of the sequencing run and amplicon coverage, facilitating immediate insights during diagnostic workflows. Validation experiments confirmed the system's reliability, accurately identifying all pathogens present in complex clinical or environmental samples. This tool provides an integrated, user-friendly solution for genomic pathogen surveillance in field or clinical settings.

Software↗

Reference-Free Microsatellite Instability Detection from Tumor Sequencing Using Intrasample Variability Modeling.

Microsatellite instability (MSI) is a predictive biomarker in several tumor types. However, many next-generation sequencing-based callers require matched normal samples, reference panels, or pretrained models, limiting their portability across assays and sequencing centers. We developed PROMIS (PROfiling of Microsatellite InStability), a tumor-only, reference-free pipeline that uses a discrete mixture model to characterize intrasample repeat-length distributions at predefined microsatellite loci. Locus-level classifications are then aggregated into a continuous MSI score. We benchmarked PROMIS in colorectal (CRC), endometrial (UCEC), and gastric (STAD) cancers from The Cancer Genome Atlas. PROMIS achieved an overall area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.995 and cohort-specific AUCs of 1.00 in CRC and stomach adenocarcinoma and 0.999 in uterine corpus endometrial carcinoma, comparable to established tools despite not using matched normals or pretrained models. Subsampling demonstrated robust performance with substantially fewer loci. In silico dilution showed progressively reduced MSI-microsatellite-stable discrimination, with the pooled AUC declining from 0.83 at 10% tumor fraction to 0.53 at 1%. At low tumor fractions, tumor-type-specific baseline microsatellite variability increasingly influenced PROMIS scores. Finally, in prostate and CRC cell-free DNA cohorts, including Illumina TSO500 data and an 18-gene panel, PROMIS yielded MSI scores concordant with orthogonal tissue- and panel-based classifications across the evaluated Illumina-based sequencing contexts. Accordingly, the present validation should be considered limited to Illumina-based sequencing platforms. PROMIS is intended to complement existing genomic profiling workflows by enabling MSI assessment from sequencing data already generated for broader molecular analyses. Prospective clinical validation remains necessary before clinical implementation.

Journal Article↗

[Megavoltage cone-beam CT: Recent developments and clinical applications].

The Megavoltage cone-beam (MV CBCT) system consists of a new a-Si flat panel adapted for MV imaging and an integrated workflow application allowing the automatic acquisition of projection images, cone-beam CT image reconstruction, CT to CBCT image registration and couch position adjustment. This provides a 3D patient anatomy volume in the actual treatment position, relative to the treatment isocenter, moments before the dose delivery, that can be tightly aligned to the planning CT, allowing verification and correction of the patient position, detection of anatomical changes and dose calculation. In this paper, we present the main advantages and performance of this MV CBCT system and summarize the different clinical applications. Examples of the image-guided treatment process from the acquisition of the MV CBCT scan to the correction of the couch position and dose delivery will be presented for spinal and lung lesions and for head and neck, and prostate cancers.

Head and Neck Neoplasms↗

Clinical application of the UMLS in a computerized order entry and decision-support system.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center uses the UMLS as a dictionary, an interlingua, and a knowledge source within the WizOrder system. WizOrder provides direct care-provider order entry and integrated clinical decision-support capabilities. Linking the two functions enables efficient decision-support during the "normal" workflow of care providers, at the point where decisions are made. WizOrder uses the UMLS as a dictionary to encode free-text entries into controlled vocabularies such as ICD9. As an interlingua, the UMLS provides mapping between vocabularies, allowing to translate patient-specific information to MeSH terms and perform automated literature retrieval. WizOrder uses the tables of co-occurring concepts and the Semantic Network to provide sensible lists of potential drug interactions and adverse drug reactions, and generate fully-formed MEDLINE queries for PubMed.

Decision Support Systems, Clinical↗