Health Imaging & IT - April 2008 - (Page 20)

special secTion advanced visualizaTion By Beth Walsh Utilizing thin-client-based advanced visualization, clinicians can access tools from any location—fostering more efficient patient care, physician communication, education and research—all at a reasonable cost. can spend $100,000 a pop to put [advanced visualization capabilities] all over the hospital.” Gilbert began with the 15 to 18 users in the surgery department. The software “really turned their heads because it takes them much less time to go through a large CT scan.” One trauma package contains 900 to 1,200 slices, but with Vitrea, as soon as the study is launched on the 3D client, it comes up with all three planes and the 3D rendering model. The user can click on the injury and all three planes snap to it. “Within one minute, they can get the same information that would take at least five minutes to get by rolling through the study.” Ever since the surgeons began using the software, other physicians have clamored for access as well, Gilbert reports. With 250 residents and 300 attending physicians, he says the best way to use the software is by making it available as a PACS web product. Since extending PACS to the facility’s wide-area network, “we also can use VitalConnect on our WAN [wide area network].” [ Cta of the abdominal aorta using vitrea software from vital images] Ron Gilbert, PACS administrator at Atlanta Medical Center in Georgia, installed Vitrea advanced visualization software and VitalConnect from Vital Images last fall. His philosophy is that “if I can make it easier for the doctors to do their jobs, overall the patients are benefiting.” Thin-client offers several advantages, he says. It makes it easier for physicians to go online and obtain the information they want on their own. They can be more detailed about their diagnoses and reporting on the charts. Plus, two or more physicians can discuss findings more easily since they can access the same dataset at the same time. Setting up the software was relatively easy, Gilbert says. “I used existing hardware so the costs were minimal. You’ll be stuck if all you have are stand-alone workstations. No hospital 20 Health Imaging & IT | april 2008 easy access outside radiology Stuart A. Royal, MD, radiologist in chief at Children’s Health System in Birmingham, Ala., has been using Visage CS from Visage Imaging for about a year. The facility uses the system for a distributed architecture for physicians outside of the radiology department to do their own 3D manipulations. Although the radiologists find the software helpful on a daily basis, Royal says the biggest value is in letting the department create open, available and transparent radiology information. “The information can be used by the [clinicians] who order the tests and that’s the big advantage.” Radiologists may look at studies a particular way to make a diagnosis, he says, but referring physicians may find a different view more helpful. For example, a surgeon can manipulate the Healthimaging.com http://Healthimaging.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Health Imaging & IT - April 2008

Health Imaging & IT - April 2008 Contents On the Web The Enterprise News Update Cracking Down: CT Radiation Dose 3D Rendering: Options Galore Thinking Thin-Client Modality Review Ergonomics & Design Special Section: Storage Strategies Imaging Tools Technology Outlook People & Technology Technology Review IT Trends Reader's Resource Stat Sheet

Health Imaging & IT - April 2008

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