Often the best rationale for implementing a PACS is the opportunity to eliminate the inefficiencies and storage needs of film-based imaging. These goals are the driving force behind Image Technology Laboratories, a company set to debut at this month’s RSNA meeting.
Faced with the prospect of running out of storage space for his x-rays, Dr. David Ryon, a radiologist and owner of Kingston Diagnostic Center in Kingston, NY, realized that he needed digital image management technology.
After concluding that commercial PACS offerings were too expensive and failed to meet his needs, Ryon in 1995 decided to embark on the development of a home-grown PACS, called ITLPACS. To accomplish the task, Ryon joined forces with Lewis Edwards, a former senior technical staff member for IBM, and Dr. Carlton Phelps, a radiologist with experience implementing commercial PACS networks.
ITL executives believe a key differentiating feature of the Windows NT-based ITLPACS is its stand-alone touch-screen monitor, which is used to control all of the system's image display monitors. As a result, radiologists don’t need to type or click mice to control the workstations, said Ryon, who serves as ITL's CEO.
"We’ve basically located all of the graphical user interface (GUI) controls on a touch-screen that sits in front of the radiologist," Ryon said. "The touch-screen allows control of the entire operation of the system, including next case, magnifying and annotating images, and measurements such as calipers, as well as dictation control."
By centralizing the workstation control on the touch-screen, radiologists can use the high-resolution monitors solely for reviewing images, Ryon said. The touch-screen software can support any number of monitors, and can also query a hospital or radiology information system, he said. It also includes a number of other advanced workflow features.
"We’ve developed a proprietary recorder control that allows us to drag and drop images on a report and embed them," he said. "You can also create a .wav file from your dictation, which will be automatically sent to the stenographer."
In addition to the formal dictated report, a separate voice file containing other physician notes -- the digital equivalent of "sticky notes"-- can also be embedded along with the patient data, he said.
As an added workflow benefit, ITL plans to add speech recognition technology in the future, Ryon said. Archiving with ITLPACS is performed using CD and DVD media, Ryon said.
"For the smaller imaging center, one of our concepts is that every patient has their own CD library, just as a patient would have their own film jacket," he said. "The night before an exam is scheduled to be performed, the patient’s film archive would be pre-loaded onto the server by an imaging center employee to allow for review of comparison images."
The modular nature of ITLPACS makes it easy to upgrade, allowing the firm to take advantage of new technological developments, such as speech recognition, without having to perform substantial software rewrites, Ryon said.
After this month's RSNA meeting, ITL will apply for Food and Drug Administration 510(k) clearance, and the company's first installations are expected to take place in the second quarter of 2001, he said. The firm will likely pursue a mix of direct and OEM sales. Although a sales strategy has not been completely finalized, ITL will likely also offer a fee-per-use purchasing option, he said.
ITL recently became a public company, having closed a public offering in late October of approximately 2.63 million units at $.40 per unit. Each unit consists of one common share and one warrant to purchase one share of common stock for $.50. The company raised approximately $1.1 million before expenses, according to ITL. The shares and warrants will be traded on Nasdaq under the symbols ITLI, ITLIW, and ITLIZ.
AuntMinnie.com staff writer
November 1, 2000
Let AuntMinnie.com know what you think about this story.
Copyright © 2000 AuntMinnie.com
