Keywords:  Image Manager, archiving, database
Image Manager

The image manager consists of a commercial database that is often a relational database with an ANSI standard SQL interface.  Workstations from the same vendor implement a direct access, because they know the database scheme.  Other vendor's workstations access the database through the DICOM standard hierarchical database model of a Patient-Study-Series-Image.  For example, a work station could issue a query of all procedures done for a given patient ID, asking for the modality, referring physician, and study date.  The user can then select the appropriate images from the list of returned database matches and request them to be sent to the workstations, upon which command the image manager instructs the storage device to send the images.  Search keys supported by an image manager are specified in the DICOM conformance statement.  There are only a limited number of required keys specified by the DICOM standard, which does not provide an extensive search capability.  One should check the device's DICOM conformance statement to determine whether additional optional keys are supported.

The image manager is the "brains" behind the image archive.  It typically contains the database, manages the images and other DICOM objects, corresponding administrative functions, and provides support for items such as resolving "broken studies."  When a vendor provides a PACS archive, it almost always combines the Image Manager as well as the Image Archive.  It is not uncommon to have a single image manager with multiple image archives.  If there are multiple image managers, for example, when two PACS are installed in two hospitals working very closely together, they often are implemented as a distributed database system that updates and synchronizes itself automatically with new patient information and updates.

The Image Manager is also the name of the IHE actor that is used to communicate DICOM Queries, and Workflow services such as Storage Commitment and Performed Procedure Step.

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