Health Imaging & IT - November 2008 - (Page 90)

teCHNologY outlooK By Jonathan Batchelor Challenges for Enterprise Imaging PACS has the potential to serve the needs of the entire diagnostic imaging enterprise; providing archival and connectivity capabilities to deliver image information anywhere across the healthcare continuum. Although PACS has predominantly lived within the purview of radiology, many other diagnostic imaging specialties are now able to produce native DICOM images, or have conversion tools available that convert captured images into the DICOM format for PACS purposes. As such, many of the medical specialties outside radiology—including cardiology, orthopedics, radiation therapy, pathology, dentistry, ophthalmology, virology, microbiology and hematology—want to harness the power of PACS for storing and distributing images generated by their departments. Of particular interest for many clinicians is the capability for using PACS to store and transmit digital endoscopy data. Endoscopy is perhaps one of the most widely used visible-light image capture tools in medicine, and almost all of the latest generation of equipment is digital and support DICOM. Gastrointestinal specialists use the technology to perform colonoscopy, esophagogastroduodenoscopy, proctosigmoidoscopy, and endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) studies. Rhinoscopy and bronchoscopy exams are commonly conducted for the respiratory tract; with panendoscopy (the combination of laryngoscopy, esophagoscopy and bronchoscopy) also ordered for patient studies. Cystoscopy is performed for urinary tract disorders. Gynecologists conduct colposcopy, hysteroscopy, falloscopy, and some laparoscopy exams, while obstetricians utilize the technology for amnioscopy and fetoscopy. Orthopedic specialists utilize arthroscopy, and thoracic specialists use endoscopic tools for thoracoscopy and mediastinoscopy studies. Visible light, for the capture of microscopy and endoscopy images, has been part of the DICOM standard since 1999. The DICOM-VL specification delineates how to store preparation procedures and imageacquisition conditions in the image headers, which allows for display of these images on a DICOM viewing station, as well as integration of the 90 Health Imaging & IT | November 2008 data into an enterprise-wide PACS image management architecture. At first glance, it would seem that the pieces are in place for bringing digital endoscopy onto the enterprise PACS; however, according to a pair of healthcare informatics pioneers who have set themselves this task, there are still issues remaining to be resolved. integration takes more than DiCom In a presentation on enterprise PACS made at the 2005 Society for Computer Applications in Radiology (now the Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine) annual conference in Orlando, Fla., Gary Wendt, MD, vice chair of informatics and enterprise director of HealthImaging.com http://www.HealthImaging.com

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

Health Imaging & IT - November 2008 Table of Contents On the Web The Enterprise News Update RIS/PACS Speech PACS Peripherals Advanced Visualization CT DR & CR CAD Molecular Imaging MRI Ultrasound Healthcare IT Furniture reading Services Cardiac Imaging Data Storage & Archiving Displays Oncology Imaging 3T MRI Flexing its Muscle Breast Imaging Workflow: Optimum Efficiency & Beyond Enterprise Long-term Storage: Plan for the Worst, Hope for the Best LCD Monitors Sharpen Soft-copy Mammography Defining Lung CAD’s Role Digital Endoscopy: Challenges for Enterprise Imaging Reader's Resource On the Frontline: CT in the ED

Health Imaging & IT - November 2008

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