GE Healthcare Discovery MI

Study Will Not Save, Reconstruct, or Export

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Asset Type

PET / CT System

Manufacturer

GE Healthcare

Model

Discovery MI

What This Guide Helps With

Troubleshoots study saving, reconstruction, and export failures caused by workflow, storage, connectivity, destination availability, software state, or study-specific conditions.

Step-by-Step Troubleshooting

1. Protect the Patient and Preserve Existing Data

Do not repeat a PET or CT acquisition because a completed study will not save, reconstruct, or export until the existing data have been located and preserved.

Avoid deleting temporary, queued, or incomplete study data while troubleshooting.

Expected outcome: Existing patient data are preserved and unnecessary repeat imaging is avoided.

2. Identify Which Data Function Fails

Determine whether the study:

Record exact messages and whether the failure occurred during PET, CT, or fused-image processing.

Expected outcome: The problem is isolated to storage, reconstruction, export, or a specific study.

3. Confirm Workstation Responsiveness

Verify that the operator workstation is functioning normally and that other routine software functions respond.

Check for:

Expected outcome: The workstation is responsive or the issue is recognized as a broader workstation problem.

4. Verify the Study Exists Locally

Using normal operator-accessible functions, determine whether the acquisition data and available reconstructed series remain on the system.

Do not remove or overwrite the study.

Expected outcome: The location and current state of the patient data are known.

5. Check for Study-Specific Workflow Problems

Review the affected examination for obvious issues such as:

Do not alter patient identifiers merely to make the study process.

Expected outcome: The study workflow is complete and no obvious operator-level condition is preventing processing.

6. Compare With Another Existing Study

When appropriate, test processing using an existing noncritical study or approved test dataset rather than acquiring additional patient data.

Determine whether:

Expected outcome: The failure is identified as study-specific or system-wide.

7. Verify Export Destination and Network Availability

If export is the only failed function, verify:

Coordinate with PACS or IT personnel when necessary.

Expected outcome: The export path is available or an external destination/network problem is identified.

8. Check Accessible Storage Status Indicators

Use normal operator-accessible system information to look for warnings indicating storage or data-management problems.

Do not manually delete system files or alter operating-system storage outside approved procedures.

Expected outcome: No accessible warning indicates that local storage or study management requires service-level intervention.

9. Perform an Approved Restart if Safe

After confirming that patient data are preserved and no active processing would be lost, perform an approved normal workstation or system restart if appropriate.

Avoid forced shutdowns unless required for safety.

Expected outcome: Normal study-processing services restart and the affected save, reconstruction, or export function becomes available.

10. Verify the Complete Data Workflow

Confirm as appropriate that:

Expected outcome: The complete study-processing workflow functions normally.

If all applicable verification passes, troubleshooting can stop and the scanner may be returned to service.

If the Problem Persists

If study workflow, local data availability, workstation responsiveness, external network connectivity, destination availability, and approved restart procedures have been checked but saving, reconstruction, or export still fails, the cause may involve local storage, database services, reconstruction software, workstation hardware, internal communication, corrupted study data, network configuration, or another service-level condition.

The system should be:

Preserve affected patient data whenever possible and coordinate with imaging informatics or IT before any action that could delete or overwrite studies.

After repair, verify acquisition, storage, reconstruction, retrieval, and export before return to clinical use.

Knowing when to stop external troubleshooting and escalate is proper troubleshooting.

Clinical Use Tip

Before repeating any PET or CT acquisition, confirm whether the original raw or reconstructed data still exist and can be recovered or processed.

Work Order Documentation (CCR Method)

CCR = Complaint, Cause, Resolution

Complaint

What was reported by the clinical staff.

Example:
"Imaging staff reported that a completed Discovery MI study reconstructed locally but would not export to PACS."

Cause

What was observed during troubleshooting.

Example:
"Clinical Engineering found that network connectivity from the operator workstation had been interrupted by a loose external network connection."

Resolution

What action was taken.

Example:
"Clinical Engineering restored the network connection, verified successful export and PACS receipt of the preserved study, confirmed normal subsequent data transfer, and returned the scanner to service."

Helpful Details to Include (If Known)

Final Thought

Protect the patient and preserve acquired data before troubleshooting study-processing problems. Separate storage, reconstruction, and export failures, verify external workflow and network causes first, and escalate when data integrity or reliable processing cannot be assured.

That is successful troubleshooting.

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