While radiologists have recently been using PACS viewers in stack mode for clinical image interpretation of tomographic images such as CT and MRI, the DICOM Standard does not define dynamic specifications during paging. In addition, image viewing in stack mode seems to vary with different PACS viewers, said Dr. Masahiro Yakami of Kyoto University Hospital.
To evaluate this problem, the research team used a high-speed movie camera to record images shown on computer displays of PACS viewers during paging. Based on these experiments, the researchers believe it's necessary to choose an appropriate viewer and to use it with the correct settings to prevent unwanted slice dropping when viewing thin-slice images, Yakami said.
"To reduce the possibility of missing lesions with dropping viewers, paging speed must be reduced to lower than half of the display refresh rate," Yakami said. "Viewing each slice multiple times may also be effective."
