Hanging protocol ranking

NilRead uses the following process to evaluate which hanging protocol will be applied automatically when a study is loaded.

1. The study is loaded in NilRead.
2. The available protocols for the user are retrieved from the hanging protocols database. This includes the current user’s protocols and all system protocols.
3. Each protocol is evaluated for “anchor study” matching. Protocols that do not match all the rules in this section are discarded. The remaining protocols will be available to the user from the Hanging Protocols tool.
4. Each protocol is evaluated for “comparison studies” matching. NilRead counts the number of matching prior studies and uses this number to determine the protocol’s ranking.

 

The full ranking algorithm is based on the following rules, performed in the following order. (When comparing two hanging protocols, if a rule cannot differentiate between the two protocols, the next one is evaluated).

1. User protocols take priority over system protocols.
2. The viewports defined by the hanging protocol are scanned to see if they reference priors (for example, “pick series from the 2-nd prior”). A hanging protocol where all priors are accounted for takes precedence.
3. If there are multiple hanging protocols that reference priors (for example, one that defines comparison views with a single prior and one that defines comparison views with first and second prior) the one that references the most priors is given priority.
4. A hanging protocol with more specialized anchor rules receives a better ranking.
5. A hanging protocol with more specialized comparison matching rules receives a better ranking.
6. The hanging protocol with the most rules receives a better ranking.