If you specialize in medical imaging for breast exams, you know new technologies, such as 3D mammography and digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT), along with the delay between examinations for many patients, can put a strain on your PACS. How do you solve this challenge at your medical facility?
File Size Considerations
DBT is among the new technologies that have become popular in medical facilities and make it crucial that your PACS is capable of managing various file types. But you have to consider that using DBT could also put a strain on your PACS due to the number of images per exam. In traditional mammograms, you’re only capturing two images per breast. DBT will involve 10 to 100 images per breast (the number depends on breast size and modality).
The advantages of the new technology can be somewhat offset by the difficulty in managing these files. A DBT image ranges in size between 450 megabytes to 3 gigabytes. The worry is that if you’re not equipped with the right PACS, you could see digital image transmission crawling at a snail’s pace, but there are also the storage capabilities to consider with such large and numerous files.
Accessing Data
Accessing previous exams and comparing them to the most recent exam is a common and necessary practice. What happens if the patient had their previous imaging completed at a different office? Let’s say they had a DBT scan and the image files are so large they don’t fit on a CD or DVD. How are such large file sizes transmitted to you? Even if you could fit the images on a CD, there is the risk of them arriving at the viewer damaged or unreadable.
The smart move many radiology departments are making is to get away from the CD burning technology and moving toward cloud-based image storage where images can be accessed and sent to disparate locations. The problem is that you have to make sure your PACS are compatible with new imaging modalities.
Choosing the Right Vendor
If you’ve already made the investment in new technology or are considering it, you have to make sure your cloud-based PACS provider has the tools that will make your investment relevant.
Do they have the storage capabilities that will keep up with your years and years of images? Will they allow you to send and receive images electronically? Will they offer vendor neutral archiving?
At OffSite Image Management, our cloud-based PACS offers all of the above and more. Our commercial datacenter provides us the flexibility to manage all of your data with the added benefit of disaster recovery and business continuity tools. If you have invested in DBT technology, our solutions are a perfect match so you can get the most value out of your enhanced imaging machines. Contact us and let’s discuss how we can improve your workflow.
