Dear AuntMinnie Member,
Microsoft's Kinect gaming technology is breaking into the healthcare space thanks to researchers from Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Canada. Sunnybrook surgeons are trying out the system's motion-sensing features as a possible tool for accessing medical images in a PACS, according to a new article in our Advanced Visualization Digital Community.
As reported by senior editor Erik L. Ridley, researchers made use of recent hacks to the Kinect operating system to develop software that creates an interface between the console and the institution's PACS network. Surgeons working in a patient's sterile field can pull up images using hand gestures rather than touching a computer keyboard.
The system is currently undergoing usability testing at Sunnybrook to learn the best way to integrate it with surgical practice. Learn more by clicking here, or visit the community at av.auntminnie.com.
Mad River denouement
Also read about what may be the final chapter in the pediatric CT radiation overdose case at Mad River Community Hospital in Northern California, after the radiologic technologist (RT) at the heart of the incident lost a bid to have her RT license reinstated. Read more by clicking here.
Breast density bills gain traction in states
In other news, more state legislatures are considering bills to require imaging facilities to notify at-risk mammography patients of their breast density.
Modeled after a law enacted in Connecticut in 2009, the bills share a similar goal: enabling women to learn more about the relationship between breast density and cancer risk, and also about the challenges with mammography when screening women with dense breasts.
Advocates of the bills say they are needed to ensure that women are better informed, and they are hoping to enlist radiologists in their cause. Learn more by clicking here, or visit our Women's Imaging Digital Community at women.auntminnie.com.
