Enhancing diagnostic ultrasound programs utilizing wide-area image management technology.

Abstract

Diagnostic ultrasound in remote sites is limited by attendant delay in interpretation and reporting. Technology advances were incorporated in an ultrasound program based in Churchill, Manitoba, and designed to meet the needs of the Central Canadian Arctic. Still-frame ultrasound images are digitized via a sonographer's picture archiving and communications system (PACS) workstation, and as they are collected they are transmitted over a dial-up Internet protocol network in Dicom 3.0 format to a tertiary care center. Received images are routed to a physician's PACS workstation, where they can be reviewed prior to the patient leaving the remote clinic. The impact of existing technology on a northern ultrasound program is discussed. The implications of technology enhancement are reviewed, with specific reference to remote low bandwidth sites.