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IMPORTANT NOTE:

For registrants of the April 25, 2011 – May 20, 2011 course, the case submission system is NOW AVAILABLE. An announcement will be posted when access is available for the July course.

Technical issues - AIRPCasePackageHelp@acr.org

We will reply to your inquiry as soon as possible. Please note that assistance is available Monday – Friday 8:30AM – 5:00 PM EST.

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AIRP Course Instructions

Residents attending the AIRP Radiologic Pathology Correlation Course are required to submit ONE pathologically proven case illustrating a radiologic-pathologic correlation. If a resident chooses to submit TWO pathologically proven cases, the resident will receive a complimentary copy of the next edition of the Radiologic Pathology Syllabus. 

Case packages MUST be submitted ELECTRONICALLY through the AIRP Case Package web application.  Students may not bring case package(s) to the course.  Only pathologic material (slides or paraffin blocks) will be submitted at the course. (See instructions for “Pathologic Material” below.)  These will be collected during the first two weeks of the course. 

IMPORTANT NOTE REGARDING SILVERLIGHT:  The AIRP Case Package web application requires installation of Microsoft’s Silverlight (http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/ ). 

ANONYMIZATION REQUIRED

In compliance with HIPAA privacy laws, all images and documentation must be anonymized.  Any information such as patient names, patient IDs, and social security numbers contained within the DICOM metadata, burned-in pixel data, or documentation must be removed so that no one can trace the images or documentation back to the patient. We realize that the ultrasound images contain patient information burned-into the images, and there is no easy solution for anonymization.  We would like you to submit the entire study in the “Upload Images” section.  However, you will need to choose 5-10 representative images for the Case Summary section.  These images must be converted to JPEG or TIFF (minimum 300 dpi), and completely anonymized before uploading.  Other than the ultrasound DICOM images your PACS administrator should be able to anonymize the DICOM images for you.

CASE PACKAGE SUBMISSIONS ARE FINAL

Students may work on any component of the case package in any desired order and can make any changes as necessary before electronically submitting the case package to AIRP.  However, students may not make any changes to the case package after submission.

CASE PACKAGE REJECTION

After a case package is electronically submitted to AIRP, it may be rejected after review by the AIRP section chief if it is found to be lacking in quality or material.  Students will then be required to re-submit the sections of the case package that were deemed insufficient.  Students will only have access to the sections of the case package which require re-submission.  Program Directors will be notified of rejected cases. 

CASE PACKAGE COMPONENTS FOR ONLINE SUBMISSION

• Case Data Entry (Case information and summary of reports)
• Required Documentation (PDF’s of actual reports: Radiology, Operative/Procedural, and Pathology reports are required.)
• Required Images (Radiologic images in DICOM format ONLY; Gross specimen images in JPEF or TIFF format)
• Case Summary & Selected Images (JPEG or TIFF formats accepted.  To be used for future Teaching Files.)

Case Data Entry Information
Students will need to provide the following information and respond to the following questions under the Case Data Entry section of their case package:

• Organ System, Organ Location, Organ Distribution
• Diagnosis/diagnoses and findings
• Specimen ID number/surgical pathology numbers
• Patient’s sex, race, age
• Pathologist’s name, phone number, fax number
• Contributing hospital’s name and address to be used to return pathologic materials
• Do you have plans to publish this case?
• Has this case been previously published? If yes, please list journal references.
• Clinical summary
• Operative summary
• Pathology summary
• Gross pathology summary

*Note: Summaries should NOT be “copy and pastes” of reports. Students must actually summarize the reports and note pertinent findings.
Students must print a copy of the completed Case Data Entry page using the “PRINT” selection on the Case Data Entry page.  This print-out must be brought to the course with the pathologic material (glass slides or paraffin blocks) and submitted by case category, according to the following schedule:   

Day one: Registration: No pathologic specimens will be collected.
Day two: All Pediatric, except Musculoskeletal
Day three: All Musculoskeletal
Day four: Chest, Pulmonary, Cardiovascular, and Breast
Day five: Neuro
Day six: GU
Day seven: GI

Required Documentation
Students are required to upload the following documentation:

• Pathology report(s) OR autopsy report(s) OR if applicable, BOTH
• Operative report(s) OR procedural report(s) OR if applicable, BOTH
• Radiology report(s)
• Discharge summary (OPTIONAL)

Required Images

• Radiologic
• Gross specimen
• Histologic

*Note: Digital histologic images are not a substitute for pathologic material.  Students who are not able to bring pathologic material must request an exception from the appropriate section head (contact info found under subspecialty tab below).  Students can optionally upload digital histologic images in addition to bringing their pathologic material, if digital images available.  Virtual Microscopy IS acceptable in lieu of pathologic slides.  See the “Pathologic Material” section below. 

Radiologic Images
Students are required to upload a minimum of one DICOM study for the radiologic images.  All radiologic images must be in DICOM format. If only hard copy films are available at your institution, these films must be digitized and saved in a DICOM format.  We will not accept radiologic images in the form of JPEG or TIFF files, for the Upload Images portion of case submission  DICOM studies may be uploaded in any order.     

If a student is requesting a CD of the DICOM studies from a PACS administrator (versus directly getting the DICOM files from a network), the following procedures and information may be helpful:  

• Burn each DICOM study on a separate CD
• For each DICOM study, note how many series are contained within that DICOM study
• For each DICOM study, note the total number of files for each DICOM series within that DICOM study. 

Recording the total number of DICOM series per case, and recording the total number of files in each DICOM series may better ensure that all files are uploaded, as intended.   The CDs can also serve as a helpful record of the DICOM studies uploaded as radiologic images.

It is the student’s responsibility to make sure that the TOTAL NUMBER of files received by AIRP for each DICOM series is indeed the total number of files intended to be uploaded for the case.   

The AIRP Case Package web application is only able to report the study name as taken from the DICOM metadata and the number of files received for each DICOM series. 

Gross Specimen Images

Gross specimen images are required for each case.  Cases without gross specimen images must first be given a waiver by the section head of the organ system (see list below), in order to be accepted, and AIRPCasePackageHelp@acr.org must be sent a copy of the email.   Gross specimen images must be oriented to correlate the gross morphology of the disease with the radiologic findings. Images of the resected specimen or an autopsy are best suited for this purpose; however, intra-operative, endoscopic, bronchoscopic, laparoscopic or arthroscopic images are also acceptable. 

Gross images taken with a digital camera are only acceptable when taken at full resolution using a three- (3) megapixel or greater camera (MINIMUM resolution required is 300 dpi). 

Pathologic Material

Original or recut histologic material (on glass slides or paraffin blocks) must be brought to the course FOR EACH CASE.     Slides must be properly secured in a transportable slide container, accompanied by a print-out of the AIRP Case Data Entry page, which lists the specimen number(s) entered by the student.  The specimen numbers on the pathologic material must match the specimen numbers on the patient’s pathology report and the Case Data Entry Form in order for the case to be accepted. 

VIRTUAL MICROSCOPY:  We will accept a DVD of virtual pathology slides to be submitted at the course in place of pathologic slides.  A virtual slide is a digitally captured glass slide which is comprised of high-resolution images which can be navigated and viewed with various magnifications.  

For more information on virtual microscopy and slide scanning services, please visit the following websites:  

http://www.olympusamerica.com/seg_section/seg_microscopes.asp?section=virtual

http://www.aperio.com/pathology-services/digital-service-slide-scanning-education.asp  

http://www.flagshipbio.com/services-2/slide-scanning/

*Students who are not able to bring in pathologic material or a DVD of virtual microscopy must request an exception from the appropriate AIRP Section Head (See list with emails below).  This is a separate request from a Gross Image exception.  Some students are granted an exception for Gross Images, but are still required to bring pathologic slides.  If an exception for pathologic material is granted, the email from the AIRP Section Head should be uploaded with the path report, and histologic images must be uploaded electronically using the Histologic uploader in the “Upload Images” section of the case package. 

Gross specimen and histology images must be in uncompressed JPEG or TIFF format.  PowerPoint presentation submissions for gross and histology images are not acceptable.

Case Summary

Students are required to upload and provide the following information within the case summary section of their case package:

• Clinical history
• Representative images in JPEG or TIFF format that must be taken from the radiologic and gross specimen images that were uploaded by the student.  (Minimum resolution required: 300 dpi, see gross specimen images section)
• Descriptions
• Diagnosis
• Pathology
• Treatment
• Prognosis
• 3-5 Literature References

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