DICOM Query Sensor
The DICOM Query Sensor is designed to monitor the health and performance of a DICOM service. It performs a C-FIND query using configurable search filters (e.g., by patient, study, or other criteria) and verifies that the service responds correctly.
The sensor collects key metrics such as response time and total number of results, allowing operators to ensure the DICOM system is functioning and responsive.
The sensor is intended for monitoring and alerting, not for detailed query data analysis.
Parameters
- Connection
- Connections may be configured to use either regular DICOM or encrypted DICOM over TLS.
- Calling EA Title
- The Application Entity (AE) that initiates the DICOM messaging service request. It is based on the Source DICOM Application Name and identifies the requestor of the A-ASSOCIATE service.
- Called EA Title
- The Application Entity (AE) that is the intended acceptor of the service request. It is based on the Destination DICOM Application Name and identifies the acceptor of the A-ASSOCIATE service.
Query Description
You can build queries at the Patient, Study, or Series level: - Patient – filter by patient name or patient ID. - Study / Series – filter by ID or accession number, or build more flexible queries using patient, description, modality, or date.
Additionally, you can limit study results by date: - Today – return only records from the current day. - This month – return records from the current month.
Wildcards are supported for text fields such as patient name, study description, and similar string fields, allowing partial matches.
All search filters are optional. Leaving fields empty will return all results for that query level.
For example, you can query all studies for a selected patient with CT modality where the description contains the word “Contrast”.
Best Practices
- Choose filters to match realistic test cases.
- Avoid excessively broad filters that may return very large result sets and affect performance.
- Use a combination of filters to narrow results while still validating system functionality.
Counters:
- Response time - Response time in milliseconds
- Total Results - The number of records returned by the C-FIND query
Alerts:
- Alert on association rejected - the DICOM association request was rejected.
- No data returned by query - the query returned an empty result set.
- Slow Response - response time exceeds 50% above the latest average.
- Connection error - the DICOM service could not be reached.