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Glossary
A B C
D E H I
J K L M
P R S T
U V W
A
- Accession Number
- A unique ID or job number that is generated by the hospital RIS and used
for tracking each exam and its corresponding patient name, date, and exam
type.
- applet
- Small software application which runs within a web browser.
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B
- Broker
- A middleware component in the integration between Hospital Information Systems
and PACS systems. It links patient and study data with images, provides worklists
to modalities, displays reports on workstations, triggers pre-fetching on
a PACS, and so on.
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C
- Cine mode
- Images are shown frame by frame in succession. The result is a moving image.
- compression
- Reduces the file size of an image. Use compression if you are transmitting
images to a station via a slow connection. Lossy compression
reduces image quality slightly; for non-diagnostic purposes, the loss is minimal.
- conference
- An online collaboration about a study with other users logged into the system.
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D
- DICOM
- Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine is the industry standard
for transferal of radiologic images and other medical information between
computers. Patterned after the Open System Interconnection of the International
Standards Organization, DICOM enables digital communication between diagnostic
and therapeutic equipment and systems from various manufacturers.
- digital certificate
- An electronic certificate that establishes your credentials when doing transactions
on the Web.
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E
- extension
- A suffix at the end of a file name that indicates the format or usage of
a file. For example, .doc, .txt, or .jpg.
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H
- HIS
- Hospital Information Systems. Database used by a hospital to manage patient
information and scheduling.
- HL7
- Health Level 7. A standard communication protocol used for the transmission
of medical information. HL7 is used primarily by HIS systems and does not
support transmission of images.
- hostname
- The hostname is a common alphanumeric alias for the IP address of a station.
- Hosts file
- Text file that contains the IP addresses and host names of the station itself and all other network devices with which it communicates.
- Horizon
- Defines when scheduled studies are sent from the RIS or connectivity component
to another system, such as a modality, in the Radiology department. Generally,
the horizon value is defined as "hours before" the scheduled start time.
- Houndsfield Unit
- A Houndsfield Unit (HU) is an x-ray attenuation (density) measurement used
to describe voxel values in CT scanning. In a 12-bit CT image, the voxel values
will range from -1024 to +3071 HU. For example, water is defined as 0 HU,
air as -1024 HU, fat as -100 to -20 HU, soft tissue as +20 to +80 HU, and
bone as > +500 HU.
- .html
- Hypertext Markup Language. Extension for a file read using your web browser
(Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator).
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I
- IP address
- The Internet Protocol address is a numeric address that identifies the station
to other TCP/IP devices on the network.
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J
- Java
- Programming language that is used to write applets.
- JPEG image
- A JPEG (pronounced JAY-peg) is a graphic image created by choosing from
a range of compression qualities. Since the highest quality results in the
largest file, you can make a trade-off between image quality and file size.
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K
- key image
- Representative image for a series of images.
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L
- lossless
- Every single bit of data that was originally in the file remains after the
file is uncompressed.
- lossy
- A method of compressing images which results in a slight reduction of image
quality.
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M
- modality
- A device which gathers digital information such as medical images.
- MPPS
- Modality Performed Procedure Step. MPPS is a mechanism for modalities to
report the status of an acquisition. MPPS messages indicate whether the acquisition
(or study) is in progress, completed, or cancelled.
- multiframe images
- A study that contains multiple frames, such as ultrasound, and in some cases,
MR studies.
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P
- PACS
- Picture Archiving and Communication System. A system (often comprised of
several components) concerned with digital storage, transmission, and display
of medical images.
- patient ID
- A hospital-wide unique identifier for a patient.
- proxy server
- A server that provides access to files from other servers by retrieving
them either from its local cache or from the remote server.
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R
- remote devices
- Any device that can be accessed over the network.
- RIS
- Radiology Information System. Responsible for scheduling exams and report
management.
- .rtf
- Rich Text Format file extension. Rich text format keeps some of the formatting
of the original document. For example, bold words would still look bold. You
can read this file using the following software: WordPad, Notepad, Microsoft
Word, or WordPerfect.
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S
- SSL
- Secure Sockets Layer. A protocol from Netscape Communications Corporation,
which is designed to provide secure communications on the Internet.
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T
- thumbnail
- A low resolution, small size version of an image which can be used to quickly
select the full size image.
- toggle switch
- A tool or button which both enables and disables a feature: an on/off switch.
Trigger Events
The real-world health care event that initiates an exchange of messages, or
a workflow. An event in the real world of health care means data must flow among
systems. For example, the trigger event “a patient is admitted" means
data about that patient must be sent to other systems.
.txt
Extension for a plain text file (unformatted text). You can read this file
using the following software: WordPad, Notepad, Microsoft Word, or WordPerfect.
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U
- URL
- Unique Uniform Resource Locator. Address of the form http://www.site_name.com/,
used to point your web browser at a specific location on the web.
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V
- virtual machine
- Computer program that extends the capabilities of your web browser by running
Java applets.
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W
- web browser
- Software programs that allow you to view the contents of documents on the
Internet.
- web cache
- A temporary storage area for frequently-accessed or recently-accessed studies.
Having studies stored in the web cache speeds up the querying for studies
and viewing images.
- wildcard
- Represents unknown information in the Patient Name field. It is represented
by the asterisk (*) and question mark (?) symbols.
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