If you use the default policies file, then we do track the DESC field. The DESC field shows up as a tooltip in various viewers; it is added as a meta field if you ask for it in the retrieval request.
$ curl -s "http://localhost:17668/retrieval/data/getData.json?pv=VPIO:IN20:111:VRAW&fetchLatestMetadata=true" | head -3
[
{ "meta": { "name": "VPIO:IN20:111:VRAW" , "DRVH": ..., "NELM": "1" , "DESC": "Pump 1 Voltage" },
"data": [
...
>> however I would like to display the pv's DESC field on the pv details page
This is a good idea; if you can open a ticket for me; I'll take care of it by the next build.
Regards,
Murali