Typically don’t like to discuss vendor specific problems in front-page articles but I’m going to break that rule today. I’m hoping that this article will reach many people but specifically cardiology PACS Administrators who are responsible for managing the Agfa HeartLab Cardiology PACS solution. I’m currently managing this specific C-PACS solution and find some recurring behaviors that are not only problematic but results in significant manual work to keep the system running in a usable state.
What has been occurring in my implementation is routine loss of the DICOM services. If you’re familiar with Agfa as a cardiology solution, you’ll know that they run objects called DICOM labs. Each DICOM Lab is responsible for image transfer of one particular imaging device. We have customized HeartLab in that we don’t store directly to cardiology PACS but rather store directly to radiology PACS (which contains our enterprise archive) and then forward a copy to cardiology PACS for viewing. Since we only have one device sending to the cardiology PACS we only have one DICOM lab and one would think that without the typical 10 or 15 DICOM labs running simultaneously we should be experiencing high levels of performance, but we are not.
The most frustrating problem I have with this system is that every so often (20 to 24 hours) DICOM services hang on the server. There is really no indication that this services have hung other than the fact that an occasional spot check of our archive’s auto router shows anywhere from 1500 to 2000 images pending transfer to HeartLab. Usually, simply logging onto the server in performing a stop and start of the DICOM services will kick start all of the processes back into motion. Sometimes however, a complete reboot of the CPACS server is necessary. While the resolution is quite manual, it is not overly lengthy but the fact that it has to occur every day is unacceptable. From the time spent by the PACS administrator fixing the problem and time lost from the cardiologists who are waiting for these image transfers to take place, this cardiology solution significantly slows down workflow throughout the day.
I’m curious to know if any other cardiology PACS administrators experience similar issues, specifically with the Agfa solution and what types of resolutions you’ve developed to address the problem. Join the discussion here.
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