Ensuring referential integrity of medical image data

A system configured to manage information concerning at least one of scheduled procedure steps and performed procedure steps within a taskflow, the system comprising:

• at least one computer processor configured to,
• generate a workflow engine to generate and control a plurality of different taskflows including the taskflow, the plurality of different taskflows being associated with one or more medical procedures, the taskflow including a plurality of tasks to process medical image data, each taskflow being associated with a private context folder to store taskflow specific data, the private context folder not being accessible by external entities;
• and
• generate a publisher task, the publisher task being associated with the workflow engine and independent from the plurality of tasks of the taskflow, the publisher task being configured to,
• select data from the medical image data, stored in the private context folder,
• provide the selected data to the external entities using a short term allocation of a non-transitory computer readable memory,
• generate the information concerning at least one of the scheduled procedure steps and the performed procedure steps, the scheduled procedure steps being scheduled medical steps that are to be implemented, the performed procedure steps being medical steps the implementation of which are completed,
• update meta-information for the selected data with the information, and
• maintain referential integrity between the selected data, the scheduled procedure steps and the performed procedure steps, wherein
• the publisher task is configured to update the meta-data information by adding an object to the meta-information of the selected data, the object referring to the information, and
• the meta-data information is a Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine (DICOM) header information of the selected data.

A non-transitory computer readable medium including program segments for, when executed on a computer device, causing the computer device to:

• generate a workflow engine to generate and control a plurality of different taskflows, the plurality of different taskflows being associated with one or more medical procedures, at least one of the plurality of different taskflows including a plurality of tasks to process medical image data, each of the plurality of different taskflows being associated with a private context folder to store taskflow specific data, the private context folder not being accessible by external entities;
• and
• generate a publisher task for,
• selecting data from the medical image data, stored in the private context folder,
• providing the selected data to the external entities using a short term allocation of a non-transitory computer readable memory,
• generating information concerning at least one of scheduled procedure steps and performed procedure within the at least one of the plurality of different taskflows, the scheduled procedure steps being scheduled medical steps that are to be implemented, the performed procedure steps being medical steps the implementation of which are completed,
• updating meta-information for the selected data with the information, and
• maintaining referential integrity between the selected data, the scheduled procedure steps and the performed procedure steps, wherein
• the publisher task updates the meta-data information by adding an object to the meta-information of the selected data, the object referring to the information,
• the meta-data information is a Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine (DICOM) header information of the selected data, and
• the publisher task is associated with the workflow engine and is independent from the plurality of tasks.