Full-Study Imaging Application

Full Study Imaging Application

The Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging requires investigators to submit an application to perform research that requires image acquisition different than standard clinical scans and is using UCSF radiology resources. This full study imaging application must be submitted for review and approval before any image acquisition may begin.

Please note: this form is NOT to request data transfers. If you need access to the images after image acquisition, please review the Exporting Images from PACS for Research (Data Transfers) section.
 

Imaging Manual Requirement

An imaging manual is a requirement for the submission of this application. The imaging manual provides imaging parameters required to acquire the images (not an operations manual). This is provided by the investigator or the industry sponsor. If the industry sponsor will not provide an imaging manual at any point during the study, and will accept UCSF site-specific imaging parameters, then you do not need to submit a Full Study Imaging Application. Instead, you can use the UCSF clinical imaging modalities spreadsheet to complete site qualification questionnaires for clinical trials.

Please note: For HDFCCC Clinical Trials, you should submit the Full Study Imaging Application after review by the Protocol Review and Monitoring Committee (PRMC).

The application review and approval process will typically be completed within one month. Some studies may take longer, particularly for clinical trials requesting a specific research protocol on clinical scanners. You will receive an approval letter when your application is approved. The letter provides the approved scanners where the image acquisition can be scheduled as well as scheduling contacts.

The Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging requires investigators to submit a Radiopharmaceutical Prioritization Form for research that intends to use radiopharmaceuticals synthesized at the cyclotron facility, which have not previously been synthesized at UCSF. The cyclotron facility has limited bandwidth and not all radiopharmaceuticals can be translated for use at UCSF. This process will help evaluate radiopharmaceutical translation for clinical use at UCSF. 

Please note that this form should be submitted and reviewed prior to submitting a Full-Study Imaging Application.  If your study does not require the UCSF cyclotron to produce the radiopharmaceutical or if your study is using a radiopharmaceutical that has previously been synthesized by the cyclotron at UCSF,  please proceed to submit the Full Study Imaging Application. 

Please fill out this form in order to initiate the prioritization of the development process. Please email the completed form to Maya Aslam and Khadija Siddiqua, with the subject “Radiopharmaceutical Prioritization Form”.

AIR is a self-service platform that enables Automated Image Retrieval (AIR) from UCSF's clinical and research picture archiving and communication system (PACS). Investigators requiring direct access to image data files (i.e. DICOM files and services formerly proved by the Radiology Film Library) must request AIR access.

1. Please review the AIR Overview prior to requesting AIR access.
2. Individuals performing image transfers for clinical trials (e.g. HDFCCC study coordinators) are highly encouraged to review Imaging Data 101 and AIR SOP.
3. To request and/or update access to AIR, please complete the AIR Access Request Form.

MD.ai annotator is a secure web-based collaborative annotation application that can be utilized for machine learning and other projects. Groups of any size can work together separately or in teams to annotate datasets. It allows for textual (global) and pixel-level annotations. 

Images can be directly uploaded to MD.ai platform via a web browser as well as AIR (Automated Image Retrieval), a self-service platform for retrieving imaging studies. If you use AIR to upload images, you will need to have AIR access.  

If your research absolutely requires working with identified data and this use is approved by the IRB, our MD.ai instance is HIPAA-compliant.  However, we strongly recommend working with de-identified images if at all possible to minimize the risk and consequences of PHI-disclosure. The PI is responsible for limiting access to the MD.ai project to the people listed on the IRB. 

1. For MD.ai account as well as to get your project started, please complete the MD.ai access request form.
2. Here is a MD.ai presentation to familiarize users of the platform
3. Useful links:
   1. MD.ai Documentation (under API, Python Client Library)
   2. MD.ai GitHub

mPower is a search engine for Radiology (and soon, Pathology) reports. It supports searching based on patients and study metadata, as well as the content of the report. Advanced search options include Boolean logic in searches, excluding negated terms and identifying patients who have results in two different studies. there are limited facilities for analytics of search results, and search results can be exported in excel format.

mPower is useful, particularly for cohort selection in retrospective research studies, quality improvement projects, and identification of teaching cases. Research use requires appropriate IRB/CHR approval and is the responsibility of the researcher.

1. To request and/or update access to mPower, please complete the mPower Request Form.
2. Please review mPower User Reference Guides for help documentation under the "?" in the lower right corner of the page.

Research Visage is a PACS for research. Visage Client and Visage Control Panel can be downloaded from the internet, please download the newest version for PC. You can use your desktop Visage client (if you already have one), to log into research visage using the server name: vi-ucsf-ber01.radiology.ucsf.edu.

Important points for Research Visage:

1. Images can only be pushed from Scientific Computing Services (SCS) or Clinical PACS.
2. Images cannot be stored on Research Visage forever. They have a small shelf life due to space, hence please provide specifics on your project duration. 
3. Images will only be stored in Research Visage for 90 days. Your project will stay be there, but not the images after 90 days.
4. There is a one time configuration/customization fee (Line 90) to create a project in Research Visage.

Individuals lacking advanced training in radiologic or biomedical imaging sciences are encouraged to submit an Imaging Research Proposal Feasibility Analysis Request (~2 minutes) before submitting a full study application. This request will be routed to relevant senior investigators, who will provide feedback to the submitter.