An Automatic Image Collection System for Multicenter Clinical Studies

The acquisition of medical images from multiple medial institutions has become important for high-quality clinical studies. In recent years, electronic data submission has enabled the transmission of image data to independent institutions more quickly and easily than before. However, the selection, anonymization, and transmission of medical images still require human resources in the form of clinical research collaborators. In this study, we developed an image collection system that works with the electronic data capture (EDC) system. In this image collection system, medical images are selected based on EDC input information, patient ID is anonymized to a subject ID issued by the EDC, and the selected anonymized images are transferred to the research institute without human intervention. In the research institute, clinical information registered by the EDC and clinical images collected by the image collection system are managed by the same subject ID and can be used for clinical studies. In October 2019, our image collection system was introduced to 13 medical institutions and has now begun collecting medical images from the in-hospital picture archiving and communication system (PACS) of those institutions.