Teleradiology Reaches Lake Maggiore Area in Italy
Phase 1 of the extension of the 'Ris/Pacs'- an information system allowing the exchange of radiology information and images between different hospital units, as well as their digital archiving - has already been in operation at the hospital of Cittiglio, in the Varese Province (Italian Region of Lombardy). The Luino Hospital in the same Province will soon follow suit.
In practice, people who undergo computerised tomography (CT) in the Cittiglio Hospital will receive afterwards the X-rays in digital format - on a CD - in addition to the traditional report in paper form. The results of all other traditional medical imaging exams (X-rays, ultrasonograpy) will soon be provided in the same way.
The digital support has the advantage of both cost and times savings compared to the film support; at the same time it provides sharable quality pictures and improves the completeness of the information.
Although the common archive with Varese Hospital (Circolo di Varese Hospital) has not yet been operational, in a few months from now - i.e. by fall 2010 - the Ris/Pacs system will be implemented in the three hospitals of the area, that is, Varese, Cittiglio and Luino. All three hospitals will be able to continuously share the medical images of both the patients of their outpatient services and in-patient wards alike.
In other words, starting October 2010, once a radiologic exam has been performed, the medical report will be immediately archived in the Pacs archive along with all the records of the same patient. Hence the radiologist will be immediately able to compare the current images with the previous ones and share them with different units of the other participating hospitals.
For more information, please visit:
www.epractice.eu
