What Are Profiles?
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- A Profile is a document.
- It tells a user what can be accomplished by following the Profile. (Claims)
- E.g. you will be able to detect volume changes of greater than 20% in Stage I Lung Nodules which are 5mm in diameter or greater.
- It tells a vendor what they must implement in their product to state compliance with the Profile. (Details)
- E.g. to comply, the scanner must be able to:
- scan a Mark-324 Chest Phantom, identify the smallest resolvable target, display the diameter of that target
- demonstrate resolving targets at least as small as 2mm diameter on the Mark-324 phantom
- scan patients according to the ACRIN NLST acquisition protocol
- E.g. to comply, the quantification application must be able to:
- segment a nodule (automatically or manually), derive the volume, store it in a DICOM object
- run a user through a set of test data with known volumes and at the end display an accuracy score
- It may also tell the user staff what they must do for the Profile Claims to be realized. (Details)
- E.g. to comply, the site CT techs must be able to:
- scan the patient within 10 minutes of contrast injection
- E.g. to comply, the radiologist must be able to:
- achieve a score of 95% or better using their segmentation application on the Lung Invaders test set.
How do Profiles fit in the IHE Process?
- Users identify a high priority multi-system problem.
- Vendors & Users collaborate to document a standards-based solution (a Profile).
- Vendors confirm it works by testing their implementations with other vendors (a Connectathon)
How does QIBA differ from IHE?
- IHE mostly profiles engineering problems. QIBA also tackles scientific problems.
- When a profile claim is unvalidated or a profile detail cannot be defined until further research is done:
- IHE declares the profile premature and sets it aside until such groundwork is completed
- QIBA locates, encourages, (and perhaps coordinates) getting the research completed so the profile can proceed