Juan Pablo Alejo was the first radiologist in Spain able to present a DICOM PACS solution on a national level. Meanwhile, visitors from all over Europe are traveling to Merida to see the innovative GE Centricity RIS/PACS and its strong integration with the EPR (‘Jara’ project). The ability to digitally review radiology images even in the most remote and smallest village of the Extremadura is often an amazing process to witness for international experts.

“I was looking for providers whose systems would meet international standards like DICOM and HL7. It was very important that the solution would be compatible with these standards,” explains Juan Pablo Alejo about his system expectations. With GE Healthcare’s solution, he felt he was in good hands, as the company’s Centricity solutions not only meet international standards, but GE is actively engaged in bringing these to the next level.

Especially the modular concept of GE Healthcare was a big advantage for Juan Pablo Alejo. Centricity was able to react fast and reliable to his new system requirements, such as an enlargement of storage capacities or the integration of further network participants. The archiving concept foresees a short-term storage of all data in an EMC Clariion. The long-term storage solution is realized via an EMC Centera. During the first five years of operation, this concept guaranteed a secure storage of 7.5 million images from 600,000 studies and a data volume of roughly 7 Terabyte.

For Juan Pablo Alejo, MD Jose De la Barrera, MD Anselmo Macayo and more than 1,200 users in Extremadura, the investment in Centricity truly paid off. Thanks to the introduction of digital radiography, 86 percent of all diagnostic reports are ready in less than 12 hours after treatment. In comparison, previously, it was around three percent. In addition, advanced tools to work with digital images contribute to high quality diagnosis. Thanks to the network, doctors can consult colleagues and specialists fast and digital in order to get a second expert opinion on a special case.

Francisco de Zurbaran himself would have been fascinated by these modern and advanced possibilities in patient care, Centricity is bringing to the region of Extremadura.