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M Balasubramanium
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The radiology segment of healthcare plays an important role in qualitative diagnosis, interpretation and reporting which helps physician/ surgeon plan their line of therapy. The diagnostic tools range from age old basic X-rays/ digital X-ray and ultrasound system to high-end instruments like MRI, CT, mammograms and hi-tech technologies such as PET scans, Gamma camera etc. Radiologists have been playing a subtle yet highly significant and essential role in patient care.
Digitisation is the buzz word in current set up of radiology department. Keeping science intact, rapidly changing technologies have brought a paradigm shift in the way radiology departments have functioned so far. Almost every imaging equipment of the erstwhile era has undergone multi-fold changes in terms of scanning accuracy, speed, image resolution, patient turnaround time etc. Conventional X-ray with an average turnaround time of over six minutes per patient has been replaced with digital X-ray system with a turnaround of less than a minute. Similar is the case with CT (single slice CT to multi-slice CTs) and MRIs (0.3 T to 3.0 T, permanent magnet MRI to high-end, superconducting MRI).
Also, progress in software have offered better features and expanded the applications. While X-ray/ultrasound was the mainstay for cancer detection, today, 9 out of 10 suspected cancer patients go through CT/ MRI scans as primary cancer diagnosis.
In essence, today, imaging diagnosis (radiology) has undergone an incredible change in offering the highest quality patient care. Indian healthcare has changed much with increase in purchase parity, lifestyle diseases/ disorders taking over communicable disease, medical insurance (though a small percentile) gaining momentum, government-sponsored health insurance, availability of technologies in metro and semi- urban markets, government sponsored healthcare initiatives etc. India also scores over other developing countries on medical travel count due to its quality as well as cost-effective offerings.
While imaging diagnosis in India has surged ahead at par with any developed country, it is still lagging behind in few areas, especially patient data storage. Although most radiology departments in the developed and many developing countries are today digital and filmless, Indian imaging diagnosis has been and is even today largely a film-based practice, thus compromising on patient care as well as cost. For an abnormal image in a CT or MRI, the scan centre has to provide the patient with three to four films as reference doctor demands for it. This adds to the total cost as per film is charged between minimum of Rs 100 to Rs 250. Similar is the case with mammography/ master health check-ups etc. Apart from cost, this also proves cumbersome to the patients as they need to carry these film every time they go to hospital/ reference doctor. Except emotional needs, films do not serve much.
Alternatively, storage device will help bring down the overall cost and ease the patient’s plight of carrying several films. In the digital age, hospital/ physician does not require the radiologist to be in the hospital for reporting of the scans, as the images can be electronically transmitted to the location of the radiologist through teleradiology.
Medical imaging/ records
The amount of digital information generated in medical applications that needs to be distributed and archived is increasing every day. This growth, caused by digital imaging modalities and standardised patient information (medical health records), shows no signs of slowing down.
Demand digital publishing
Digital publishing systems are the gold standard for digital asset management, disc publishing and printing. Disc publishing is the market leader in automated digital publishing and provide unparalleled global service and support. Businesses throughout the world rely on such systems— from day-to-day disc publishers to organisations that duplicate and print a variety of media as a mission-critical component of their daily operations.
For instance; Rimage Medical Disc Systems contribute by replacing expensive film through low cost optical media in radiology whenever medical images have to be stored or distributed. Rimage Medical Disc Systems exceed the demanding requirements regarding system reliability, integration with PACS and modalities, data longevity data and print stability in healthcare and therefore have become the clear industry leader and key partner of all major healthcare companies.
End user/ patient benefits
- Reduce costs and automate your work-flow by outputting DICOM images to CD or DVD instead of expensive film w Significant cost savings (around 40 per cent) for distributing images compared to film.
- Rimage disc publishing systems integrate with PACS and modalities to automatically distribute and archive patient medical images and record
- No mix-up of patient images with print information through fully automated disc recording and direct-to-disc printing.
- High system availability and long term reliability through true professional, rugged design
- Comprehensive system status information in all DICOM applications
- Rimage API for complete system integration with all medical software and hardware systems
- Long-term printed disc stability, preserving all relevant information against humidity, UV or mechanical exposure through pioneering thermal retransfer disc printing technology
- Easy integration with radiology work-flow
- Adding the capability to automatically record and print CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs, from any PC, Mac, or other workstations on hospital network, this can have a profound effect on productivity
Conclusion
Currently, world-wide, radiography films are being produced mainly for India as healthcare delivery system in almost all countries have stopped using films for reporting. As a progressive country, we need to shift from radiography films to disc publishing as reporting and storage device. Disc publisher is an ideal solution to burgeoning cost, both to healthcare provider as well as patient. Also, disc publisher serves as the best storage device for long term and medico-legal purpose as the image quality remains intact. For the hospital, there is an additional advantage of retrieving patient information in case of PACS server break-down. Handy and cost effective for patient over long years, disc publisher serves as the best replaceable solution.