The Candelis ImageGrid is a wonderful PACS appliance used by a variety of medical facilities. The ImageGrid can also be used as a dicom router in your medical office as well. A router lets your digital imaging equipment work together, allowing you to send and receive your digital medical images quickly and efficiently.
A router helps to keep all the digital medical information flowing smoothly in the ways that you wish. The information comes from your image acquisition devices, as well as the computer hardware and software that you utilize in your clinical workstations. All the information has to be directed to the appropriate destinations, and without a router in place none of the digital information would be able to accomplish this.
The ImageGrid allows for versatility in routing applications. You will be able to set the appliance to automatically route digital medical images to an unlimited number of destinations. These can be located on a local area network, a wide area network, a virtual private network or a secure location online. Rule-based routing is also enabled with the ImageGrid. This allows your equipment to send images to radiologists according to the rules you set, and gives the physicians the capability to read studies onsite or offsite. Large hospitals have also had good results through using ImageGrid as a router for communication flow among the network, modalities and PACS systems.
You can also use the ImageGrid as a dicom archive. This is a big benefit to all medical facilities that must stay in compliance with HIPPA regulations, because with rule-based routing you can easily send your digital image studies to a remote storage location should you need disaster recovery. The ImageGrid also has ample storage space, which can be expanded as your medical facility has need. The storage capacity ranges from 1.5 terabytes to 12.75 terabytes, but this can be enlarged to the tens of terabytes as your practice and your digital image storage needs grow.
The ImageGrid also comes with an optional web-based viewer. This allows you to turn personal computers into diagnostic workstations for dicom viewing through the use of this powerful and multi-functional appliance. The ImageGrid not only features a viewer, it also allows medical practitioners to utilize modality worklist, modality performed procedure step and departmental scheduling system options as you desire.
ImageGrid is distributed by Dicom Solutions, where you can go to learn more about this impressive router, archive and viewing appliance.
Thursday, 1 July 2010
Options For Using The ImageGrid As A Dicom Router
How To View Dicom Images
Medical professionals in many different fields have made the switch to digital medical imaging. The format used for these medical images is the dicom format. Similar to the jpegs that you use on your personal computer, dicom was designed for medical applications, and it is the language that is used by most of the digital imagers, pacs systems and viewers. Being able to view these digital images is a basic task that every medical facility that uses digital imaging will have to accomplish, but it is quite easy to do.
Dicom Viewing For Digital Medical Images
There are a few key components that are needed for dicom viewing. First is the viewing software, which essentially runs on a personal computer or on a server. The computer can then be linked to a network, allowing local area access or wide area access. Some viewers are also web-based, thus allowing users to send and receive digital medical images over their networks, including virtual private networks or secure socket layers, via the World Wide Web. Through the use of networks, multiple users can view the digital images simultaneously, which leads to easier consultations and ultimately better patient care.
You use the software to load the dicom images that you want to see onto your outfitted computer, which is then known as a workstation. A workstation also usually has a diagnostic monitor attached, which offers the best way to view high resolution graphics, such as dicom images, with the best clarity.
Dicom viewing has revolutionized how doctors can view and manipulate digital medical images. Three-dimensional images can now be rendered and displayed, allowing physicians to rotate the images or view cross sections. You can also customize your layout to meet your needs better, as well as pre-fetch relevant priors. Side-by-side viewing of multiple images is also possible in the dicom environment. All of this leads to improved patient care. Digital images can be edited through zoom, contrast, brightness and other features, improving your view and the accuracy of the image.
Another benefit that comes from using dicom images is that with a PACS appliance, you can also store your digital medical images in a dicom archive, which can then be retrieved for viewing anytime you wish. You can experience fast retrieval times with even the largest studies through compression of the digital images, and will have access to a full selection of query and retrieval capabilities. Using this type of digital storage system allows your medical facility to remain in compliance with HIPPA regulations while saving money on administrative and maintenance costs of film images.
In short, the viewing of dicom images helps improve office workflow while saving money for all types of medical facilities.