Emerging Medical Imaging Trends On Display At RSNA 2010
By Ken Congdon, editor in chief, Health IT Outcomes
After stuffing myself with Thanksgiving turkey and a morning full of Black Friday shopping, I boarded a plane to Chicago for the RSNA (Radiological Society of North America) 2010 Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting at McCormick Place. This event features six days of educational seminars and technical exhibits geared toward educating radiologists, medical physicists, and radiologic scientists on the latest medical techniques and technologies available.
The theme for this year's meeting was "Personalized Medicine: In Pursuit of Excellence," which was chosen because it reflects the profound changes occurring within the specialty of radiology and the healthcare industry as a whole. Educational sessions focused on advances in basic science , translational research, and technology that are enabling healthcare providers to target and treat the specific molecular characteristics of each patient's disease.
These sessions provide a wealth of information, but most are very technical — geared toward providing radiologists with new information related to making proper diagnoses, treating particular conditions, or conducting specific medical procedures. Since I'm not a formally trained medical practitioner, my main interest in attending the show was the Exhibit Hall. I wanted to learn more about how the latest information technologies and medical imaging equipment is being leveraged to improve the operational efficiency of hospitals and imaging centers throughout the United States, while improving the quality of patient care. From my perspective, three technology trends dominated the show floor.
Zero-Footprint PACS All The Rage
RSNA boasts approximately 60,000 attendees and 700 vendor exhibits, but the number that dominated this year's event was zero. This was due to the large number of zero-footprint medical imaging applications on display at the show.
Carestream, for example, demonstrated a new zero-footprint, web-based portal capability for its CARESTREAM PACS at the event. The portal is a work-in-progress, and is designed to enable viewing of imaging data and patient information by remote users. The zero-footprint portal facilitates access to images and information for referring physicians, making data available to Windows- and Macintosh-based computers and mobile devices. No software for data or image viewing needs to be downloaded, and there are no storage or technology requirements for user PCs or workstations. The CARESTREAM PACS portal can be connected to a HIS or EMR, so users can quickly and easily view images in addition to other patient information.
KJAYA Medical also debuted its cloud-based, zero-footprint VoXcell imaging suite at the show. VoXcell comes with complete RIS and PACS image archiving and communications functionalities, plus a suite of advanced imaging tools — all accessible through a standard browser. VoXcell is designed to allow medical facilities to manage all imaging workflow throughout the enterprise and beyond using robust industry standard applications, leading-edge 3D processing, PET/CT viewing, and more — all with anywhere, anytime Internet availability. Because VoXcell functions without downloading to the local PC, it offers immediate connectivity for image sharing among unaffiliated sites while assisting management of HIPAA and HITECH Act concerns.
iPads, iPads Everywhere
Another trend at RSNA 2010 that went hand-in-hand with the zero-footprint applications on display at the event was the abundance of iPads. These tablet devices from Apple were everywhere at the show. If you were a software exhibitor at RSNA, you had a few iPads in your booth to demonstrate how your software could be leveraged on the devices.
AGFA HealthCare, for example, demonstrated an enhancement to its IMPAX Data Center Viewer that allows the zero-download applications to be expanded to the iPad. The enhancement is designed to enable portable point-of-care access to reference patient images including large multi-slice CT studies, as part of the Electronic Health Record (EHR).
McKesson also demonstrated a new iPad application for its Horizon Imaging suite that provided similar viewing functionality on the mobile device. McKesson took this functionality a step further, however, by allowing users to not only view medical images on the iPad itself, but also on larger imaging stations located throughout a hospital or imaging center using the iPad as a sophisticated remote control. This addresses one of the primary cited weaknesses of using the iPad for medical image viewing — screen size. Many radiology professionals believe the iPad's screen size is too small to make true diagnostic assessments. With McKesson's iPad app, medical images can be uploaded (but not stored) to the iPad, offering the radiologist the convenience of image portability. However, when the time comes to make true diagnostic image evaluations, the physician can log onto a fixed imaging station using the iPad (eliminating the need to reenter credentials) and upload the iPad images to the larger screen.
One final note about iPads — software exhibitors weren't the only folks in attendance with these devices. Many of the radiologists and medical physicists in attendance at RSNA had iPads in tow. This illustrates to me that healthcare professionals are adopting iPads at a significant rate despite the security concerns that still surround the device.
Vendors Promote Vendor Neutrality
Another trend clearly evident at RSNA 2010 was the concept of a Vendor Neutral Archive (VNA). By its definition, a "true" VNA is an enterprise archive that centralizes storage and the management of medical images from several different PACS. VNAs address the need to free patient data from individual silos, so that it can be more easily shared and linked to other patient information to form a more complete medical record. It also enables access to images if the PACS application is not operational, resulting in a higher level of disaster recovery and business continuity as well as more control over the long-term preservation of medical images.
Several exhibitors including TeraMedica, Mach 7, and Carestream featured products and services at RSNA 2010 geared toward enabling hospitals and imaging centers implement VNAs in their facilities. TeraMedica also announced the launch of its VNA Institute of Technology at the event. Sponsored and operated by TeraMedica, the VNA Institute of Technology is an educational web site dedicated to providing healthcare professionals with the most up-to-date VNA information available. The VNA Institute of Technology is designed to help eliminate the fear, uncertainty, and doubt surrounding VNAs that currently dominates the marketplace by offering impartial, vendor-neutral curriculum to help address industry confusion.
Those were the major trends I witnessed at RSNA 2010 this year. However, with more than 700 vendors exhibiting at the event, these trends represent just a small fraction of the IT solutions and high-tech medical imaging equipment on display at the event. If you have interest in these types of technology solutions, I invite you to learn more at www.RSNA.org and to keep RSNA 2011 (November 27 – December 2, 2011 at McCormick Place in Chicago) on your calendars for next year.
Ken Congdon is Editor In Chief of Health IT Outcomes. He can be reached at ken.congdon@jamesonpublishing.com.