network infrastructure

The IHE XDS Integration Profile defines basic components relevant for the exchange of medical documents and images. The network build up between different health care providers and used for the exchange of data is called XDS Affinity Domain. Every member of the Affinity Domain can run a separate Repository. The Repository is used to store copies of medical documents and images. The data has to be validated in the CIS of a hospital or another health care provider to be accessible for other participants in the Affinity Domain. After the validation the metadata of the document is saved in the Registry. The Registry plays an important role in finding all documents and images which are available for one patient in the network. The patient index is used to store all patient identification numbers used in all health care facilities for a patient. In addition to that the patient gets a unique ID used within the Affinity Domain. Consumer and Source Adaptor are building the connection between the healthcare institutions and the Affinity Domain.    
The XCA Gateway is used to allow the exchange of documents and images between two or more Affinity Domains. A hierarchical or lateral PIX communication is used to ensure an unique patient identification between these Affinity Domains.
To implement a technical infrastructure which fulfills one of the highest security levels for the exchange of medical documents and images, sense® offers several products which are regularly tested by IHE on interoperability.