Seamless image management around an intervention
Operating theatres are highly complex and costly hospital areas. The smoother everything runs, the better. Instant access – in emergency or planned cases – to the patient’s radiological examinations is vital, as is the seamless integration of images acquired during surgery.
For the physician, a procedure begins long before any incision is made. During planning, images from various modalities are integrated, often including those from referring doctors – either on CD, or exams scanned from conventional images passed on
as celluloids. The availability in the PACS of all those images is indispensable. A link to the hospital information solution (HIS) also enables the surgeon to access all additionally relevant information. Visus integrates special surgical planning software into
its systems, effectively providing further support through its multitude of functionalities, the firm reports: ‘The complete intervention plan can be stored with all notes and retrieved at any time for modification. For the procedure itself, the physician arranges a selection of images and stores them as “Capture” in the central PACS. Later, the display in the operating theatre (OT) is supported by hanging protocols that ensure a homogeneous representation. For the surgeon, this means that images are displayed at any time, in the required way for an optimal process in the OT.’
Image management during surgery
‘During an intervention, images are acquired again and again from a variety of sources: endoscopic or sonographic images, images from X-ray devices and the C-arm, or videos from OT cameras, partly including sound. All these different captures are integrated
into the PACS, and they are available for retrieval at any time, anywhere on the hospital. Finally, the Visus system supports the user in generating the procedure report into which he can also integrate various captures via image export from the PACS,’ the firm explains. ‘For post-operative image processing, an integrated video cutting workplace with export functions is available to the physicians. There they can easily produce video DVDs. For subsequent processing, the native video sequences are passed on
to dedicated video processing applications. This allows the user to create, “as an aside”, extensive archives for use in teaching or for publication purposes. The images can be archived selectively.’
Post-surgical image management
‘All images captured or imported in the course of treatment are available for retrieval at all designated workplaces throughout the hospital campus. For the purpose of post-operative checks, the physician can retrieve all images pertinent to a patient at any
time. Accordingly, post-operative checks can be carried out very conveniently.’
Flexible archiving and image distribution
‘Archiving images and reports is done in a flexible way, fully adapted to the needs of the individual customer. For example, data can be stored on CD or DVD in a single media archive, or in networked structures in the Storage Area Network (SAN). The most recent option is Storage Service Providing (SSP). This service enables the customer to store his data in an external archive operated by a service provider.’ Regardless of the archiving method, once the report is approved it becomes available in the PACS to authorised users, enabling interdisciplinary communication and continuing patient care.
17.11.2011
