What is a Vendor Neutral Archive (VNA)?

Expected File Types for a Vendor Neutral Archive

What is a VNA? The future of imaging which extends past the Radiology, Cardiology and Nuclear medicine departments. The need for digital pathology, dermatology and dental images has called for a single solution that fulfills the needs of each individual PACS. The idea is to have a solution that can store/transmit/view all types of images regardless of which vendor created it. DICOM or non-DICOM. Proprietary or native.

Support for DICOM Images

A radiology PACS system is expected to store radiology specific images. These DICOM image types will be referred to as SOP classes. Naturally a cardiology PACS system is expected to store cardiology specific images. Ideally, vendor neutral archive should have the ability to store SOP classes from all departments. Whether its radiology, cardiology, dental or ophthalmology, the VNA should be able to store and view all SOP classes. Most of the VNA vendors today have the ability to store a multitude of SOP classes. However, the challenge is for the VNA to be able to view these SOP classes as well. The table below demonstrates what images we should expect a VNA vendor to support for viewing. When integrating your VNA system, please be sure to check this list against your VNA vendor’s DICOM conformance statement.

Support for Non-DICOM Images

In addition to the multitude of DICOM images, a vendor neutral archive is expected to store and view non-DICOM images. This poses an additional challenge as there are several proprietary image types that are specific to certain vendor applications. However, some VNAs have the ability to view more non-DICOM images than others. As non-DICOM images are not DICOM wrapped with patient demographic tags, an XDS registry can be utilized to store the metadata. The second table of possible non-DICOM images is provided below as well.


Ability for VNAs to view DICOM Image Types

DICOM SOP ClassViewable in Vendor A VNAViewable in Vendor B VNA
12-lead ECG Waveform StorageYesYes
Ambulatory ECG Waveform StorageYesNo
Basic Text SR StorageYesYes
Breast Tomosynthesis Image StorageYesYes
Cardiac Electrophysiology Waveform StorageYesNo
Color Softcopy Presentation State Storage SOP ClassYesYes
Comprehensive SR StorageYesNo
Computed Radiography Image StorageYesYes
CT Image StorageYesYes
Digital Intra-Oral X-Ray Image Storage – For PresentationYesYes
Digital Intra-Oral X-Ray Image Storage – For ProcessingYesNo
Digital Mammography X-Ray Image Storage – For PresentationYesYes
Digital Mammography X-Ray Image Storage – For ProcessingYesNo
Digital X-Ray Image Storage – For PresentationYesYes
Digital X-Ray Image Storage – For ProcessingYesNo
Encapsulated CDA StorageYesNo
Encapsulated PDF StorageYesYes
Enhanced CT Image StorageYesNo
Enhanced MR Image StorageYesNo
Enhanced SR StorageYesNo
Enhanced XA Image StorageYesNo
Enhanced XRF Image StorageYesYes
Enhanced US Volume StorageYesNo
General ECG Waveform StorageYesYes
Grayscale Softcopy Presentation State Storage SOP ClassYesYes
Hardcopy Grayscale Image Storage SOP Class (Retired)YesNo
Hardcopy Color Image Storage SOP Class (Retired)YesNo
Hemodynamic Waveform StorageYesNo
Key Object Selection Document StorageYesYes
MR Image StorageYesYes
Multi-frame Grayscale Byte Secondary Capture Image StorageYesYes
Multi-frame Grayscale Word Secondary Capture Image StorageYesYes
Multi-frame True Color Secondary Capture Image StorageYesYes
Nuclear Medicine Image Storage (Retired)YesYes
Nuclear Medicine Image StorageYesYes
Ophthalmic Photography 16 Bit Image StorageYesYes
Ophthalmic Photography 8 Bit Image StorageYesYes
Ophthalmic Tomography Image StorageYesNo
Positron Emission Tomography Image StorageYesYes
RT Dose StorageYesNo
RT Image StorageYesNo
RT Plan StorageYesNo
RT Structure Set StorageYesNo
Secondary Capture Image StorageYesYes
Spatial Registration StorageYesNo
Ultrasound Image StorageYesYes
Ultrasound Image Storage (Retired)YesYes
Ultrasound Multi-Frame Image StorageYesYes
Ultrasound Multi-Frame Image Storage (Retired)YesYes
Video Endoscopic Image StorageYesNo
Video Microscopic Image StorageYesNo
Video Photographic Image StorageYesNo
VL Endoscopic Image StorageYesYes
VL Microscopic Image StorageYesYes
VL Photographic Image StorageYesYes
VL Slide-Coordinates Microscopic Image StorageYesNo
X-Ray 3D Angiographic Image StorageYesNo
X-Ray 3D Craniofacial Image StorageYesNo
X-Ray Angiographic Bi-Plane Image Storage (Retired)YesYes
X-Ray Angiographic Image StorageYesYes
X-Ray Radiation Dose SR StorageYesNo
X-Ray Radiofluoroscopic Image StorageYesYes
Wide Field Ophthalmic Photography Stereographic Projection Image StorageYesNo
Chest CAD SRYesNo
Mammography CAD SRYesYes

Ability for VNAs to view Non-DICOM Image Types

Native Image TypeViewable in Vendor A VNAViewable in Vendor B VNA
BMPYesYes
JPEG, JPGYesYes
TIFFYesYes
EXIFYesUnknown
H264YesUnknown
GIFYesYes
MP4YesUnknown
MPEG4YesUnknown
PDFYesYes
PNGYesYes
Native Video TypeViewable in Vendor A VNAViewable in Vendor B VNA
AVIYesYes
MOVYesUnknown
MJPEGYesUnknown
MPEGYesUnknown
MPEG2YesUnknown
MPEG3YesUnknown
Native & Proprietary PathologyViewable in Vendor A VNAViewable in Vendor B VNA
SVC (Aperio)YesNo
BIF (Huran and Ventana)YesNo
isyntax (Philips)NoNo
mrsx (3DHistech)NoNo
MDS (Motic)NoNo
NDPI (Hamamatsu)YesNo
JBIGYesNo
JPEG2000YesUnknown
AACYesNo
DVVIDEOYesNo
OGGYesNo
OGVYesNo
PCXYesNo
PNMYesNo
PSDYesNo
RAWYesNo
MP3YesUnknown
RTSYesNo
SCNYesNo
SGIYesNo
TGAYesNo
WAVYesNo
WebMYesNo
WMVYesNo
Other Proprietary Images
Unknown Legacy ImagesNoNo

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