Send to two PACS during a migration

Goal: while a new PACS is brought in, every new study reaches both the old and the new one, and earlier studies are copied from the old PACS to the new one, without touching the modalities twice.

New studies to both

1. Destinations: add Old PACS and New PACS. Make sure both accept the router.
2. Route: the route that sends to the old PACS gets the new one as a second destination.
3. Point the modalities at the router (once). From then on, the cut-over is a change in the console.

Each PACS has its own queue: if the new one is offline during its own installation, its studies wait on the node’s disk and arrive when it is back, without holding up the old one.

Earlier studies

The router can copy the old PACS’s studies to the new one through query/retrieve:

1. Tick Query/retrieve archive on Old PACS (Retrieve: through the router, so it needs nothing set up).
2. A migration tool or workstation that can query and move (C-FIND and C-MOVE) uses the router as its archive: a source for it with May query and retrieve.
3. It searches, then moves each study to New PACS (that destination’s AE title). The router retrieves from the old PACS and queues each study for the new one, with its edits, retries and history.

Move in batches, outside busy hours, or give New PACS a schedule that limits it during the day.

Different patient IDs or accession formats

If the new PACS expects other identifiers, give New PACS tag edits (a prefix on accession numbers) or a patient ID map. The old PACS keeps getting studies as they were.

The cut-over

When the old PACS retires, remove it from the route. Nothing changes at the modalities.