Digital technologies like PACS are having a dramatic impact on the delivery of imaging services throughout society, and also in an elite group of individuals: professional athletes. One sports team, the San Francisco Giants, is at the forefront of using PACS and teleradiology to diagnose injured athletes, speed treatment, and help get players back on the field as quickly as possible.
In an article for our PACS Digital Community, staff editor Jonathan S. Batchelor had the enviable assignment of visiting the Giants during spring training in Arizona, where team trainer Stan Conte discussed his efforts to maximize the use of radiology and digital image transmission, especially via the Internet.
The typical baseball season is a long, grueling campaign, with half of the nearly 200 games played on the road. If a player is hurt, a quick diagnosis is critical, both to get the player on the road to recovery, and to fill his position on the team.
To that end, Conte has set up a fiberoptic network in the team’s clubhouse at Pacific Bell Park that enables management to review exams immediately after they’re performed on imaging equipment at the stadium. When the Giants are on the road, Conte directs players to imaging facilities that have teleradiology links, which enables the team to send images back to California, where they can be viewed immediately by the radiologists and orthopedists who work with the club.
The Giants make extensive use of MRI for diagnosing orthopedic injuries, and the radiology group affiliated with the team shares some of its protocols in our article. You'll find it in our PACS Digital Community, at pacs.auntminnie.com.
