Filmless Radiology

X-ray films now a thing of the past as medical imaging goes high-tech

"Radiologists’ routine of gazing at dark images clipped on a wall-board and illuminated for easy reading is all but out of the picture at Advanced Medical Imaging. Silverdale-based AMI launched PACS — Picture Archiving and Communication System — last month and stopped producing film for 95 percent of the medical imaging it does. Internally, any new X-ray, CT (Computerized Tomography) scans and other images are now stored on a server with 2 terabytes of long-term archiving space. Another terabyte of memory in the newly installed Microsoft cluster of servers allows for quick retrieving of the AMI images over the Internet — locked away in a secure PACS gateway linked to AMI’s own Web site. Last week, AMI began distributing user names and passwords to area physicians who want to be able to look at the medical images they request with AMI. Every one of the doctors receives reports, but a few also want to see the images themselves, said Kurt Newcomer, AMI administrator. Those doctors now have the option of accessing all the images they’ve requested for any of their patients on the Internet."

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Central Kitsap Reporter