DICOM Broker
ApplicationThe Problem
Radiology departments with multiple PACS systems — accumulated over years through equipment upgrades, vendor changes, or departmental mergers — face a practical daily problem: there is no single point of query and retrieval across all of them. Clinicians need to know which PACS holds the study they need, log into each system separately, and navigate different interfaces to find and view images. The problem compounds when clinical systems that need imaging data for structured reporting or decision support require custom connectors per PACS.
The DICOM standard defines the protocols for querying and retrieving images (C-FIND, C-MOVE), but it does not define how to federate across multiple independent PACS instances. That integration layer has to be built, and in most environments it does not exist.
Why We Built It
The DICOM Broker was developed during a project at a hospital that had accumulated multiple PACS systems from different vendors. Clinical staff needed to query imaging across all of them from a single interface, and the clinical data repository needed to receive HL7 v2 DICOM Structure Reports to link imaging results to patient records. There was no off-the-shelf tool that did both.
We built a broker layer that sits in front of all PACS systems and provides a unified query interface. A single search returns studies from all connected PACS sources. When a study is found, the broker retrieves the images via C-MOVE and presents them in a browser-based viewer that works without proprietary plugins. For imaging data that needs to flow into a clinical system, the broker generates HL7 v2 Structure Reports that can be sent to an integration engine or CDR.
The project evolved into a standalone tool after it proved useful in a second integration context. It is compatible with DCM4CHEE and other DICOM-compliant PACS systems.
Key Capabilities
What the DICOM Broker handles in a multi-PACS environment.
Federated DICOM C-FIND
Query multiple PACS systems simultaneously using standard DICOM C-FIND. Results from all sources are aggregated and returned through a single interface, with the source PACS identified for each study.
DICOM C-MOVE retrieval
Retrieves imaging studies from any connected PACS using C-MOVE, routing the images to the broker for display or downstream processing. Works across PACS systems from different vendors.
Web-based DICOM viewer
Browser-based viewer for retrieved DICOM images. No plugins or desktop client required. Suitable for clinical review in environments where installing proprietary viewers is impractical.
HL7 v2 Structure Report generation
Generates HL7 v2 DICOM Structure Reports for retrieved imaging studies. Enables imaging data to flow into clinical systems, CDRs, and integration engines that consume HL7 messages.
Vendor-neutral PACS compatibility
Compatible with DCM4CHEE and any DICOM-compliant PACS system. The broker communicates over standard DICOM protocols — no vendor-specific APIs or extensions required.
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