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Going Digital With the acceleration of the trend towards filmless radiology medical imaging at chiropractic clinics, a cost-effective yet reliable and scalable digital image archiving solution – and DICOM archive such as a RIS System - is a key challenge. The modality of choice in chiropractic clinics is Computed Radiography (CR), and as prices come down Digital Radiography (DR) is expected to make inroads as well. CR's affordability combined with excellent image quality and the ability to use existing x-ray systems allows chiropractic clinics to realize the workflow and patient care improvements of going digital. Unfortunately, most PACS remain too expensive, require significant IT skills and in general are not tailored to the needs of chiropractors. However, the PC-based DICOM archive system may help to address this issue, allowing chiropractic clinics with limited resources at their disposal to take full advantage of PACS RIS technology. PACS RIS simply stands for "Picture Archive Communication System" and "Radiology Information System." Such as system is in essence a personal computer with the proper software that allows for the display, storage and editing of medical images in various modalities. The DICOM archive itself is the software that allows the computer to be used in this manner. The term DICOM stands for "Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine," and is a an image file format not unlike the more common .jpg, .png, .pct and .bmp files. The difference is that the DICOM protocol has been developed specifically for use with medical imaging. The challenge when it comes to the use of a standard PC as part of a PAC RIS is that medical images must be very high-resolution, especially when displayed as a 3-dimensional image that can be manipulated, rotated and zoomed in on like a CAD model. This requires an extraordinary amount of computing power, meaning high-end video cards and maximum random access memory (RAM) in addition to a powerful processor in the multi-gigaherz range. This is what has traditionally made a digital medical imaging system expensive. The good news is that the cost of computer technology has dropped dramatically over the past fifteen years, while processing power has grown tremendously. This means that for an investment of approximately $5000, it is possible for the average chiropractic clinic to enjoy the full technological advantages of a complete digital medical imaging and archive system. Contact our representatives today to learn more about the low-cost options that are available to your small clinic or private practice.
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