"It has helped surgeons a great deal
in downloading images at their
convenience, any time-day or night".
In what way has the DICOM Network/Archive
benefited your department?
The first benefit was film elimination. Now we need not
keep recording or cutting CD's for the patient. This saves
time and expenses.The archival system stores images without
any image degradation. Even after 2 or 3 years, the image
quality remains the same. The second advantage is that any
number of CD's can be cut, retaining image quality.
Has any post processinig capability of the
equipment been useful for your department?
Post processing is useful because it enables subtratcions
and QCAs from the review stations. But, it is the storage of
the images and the retrieval that is most important.
Has a network type of solution benefited other
departments for instance, the surgery department?
The heart of the system is in the networking. Without
networking, the system doesn't make any sense. It has helped
surgeons a great deal ini downloading images at their
convenience, any time-day or night. The images do not get lost
unlike a CD or cine film. They are always available and never
degrade.
What type of hospitals should go in for this type
of network and archive solutions?
Any hospital which does cnough number of cases, say
1,500 cathlab procedures per year and has a very active
cardiac surgical Programme, would benefit greatly.
" The concept of having a networked
system of cathlabs
with an efficient archiving system
can never become obsolete".
What kind of future networking plans do you have?
Networking has made things so much easier. If we add
new cathlabs, we obviously would like to have them
networked to the archive with additional review stations.
Networking can be proprietary or DICOM. What is the
role of DICOM now and in future?
I think some kind of a media exchange standard, like
DICOM, is absolutely necessary. It helps us view images
obtained from cathlabs from different vendors and to
play it on our review stations.
Do the doctors who handle such sophisticated review stations
and equipment have to be IT literate?
No, I think as they go along they will learn, as these
systems are user friendly. All they need to know is how to use the
review stations which can be learnt quickly.
Is the access to the images on the review very fast?
There is adequate retrivalspeed. If the images are in
the review station or in the RAID, the retrieval time is less
than a minute. If it is in the library, depending on the length
of the study it takes between 5-10 minutes. But the number of
times one has to retrieve an image from the library as
compared to retrieving them from the RAID or from the
actual review station is much less. One just has to "ask" the
review station to load the images and in 5-10 minutes, it will
be there.
What would be the cost savings with GEMnet 2000?
The most obvious cost saving is on films and developing.
The other comes from eliminating the equipment needed
for the same and from giving technicians more time to
attnd to other activities in the lab. Since CD's are not very
expensive the cost savings are substantial.
