Filmless at the University Hospitals of Mont Godinne.

On 18th June, the new premises of the Nuclear Medicine department at Mont Godinne were inaugurated.

Dr Krug, deputy head of the department, emphasizes the large amount of new modalities integrated into the PACS. He also brings up the user friendliness of the integrated system now combining the PACS and the Electronic Medical Record Omnipro from the company MIMS : “ The patient’s image history can be retrieved and directly visualized via the TM-ReceptionHE viewer of our PACS; it is even possible to perform a MPR and a MIP (Maximum Intensity Projection) for various studies making it possible to compare PET and CT studies within a few seconds. This facilitates the higher quality of care which directly benefits the patient ”.

Some milestones in the last 4 months were the arrival of two new 16 and 64 slice CT canners, the introduction of CR (Computed Radiology), the start up of the TM-Publisher solution for the burning of CD-Roms for referring physicians, the elimination of traditional X-ray film and the gradual transition from the radiology network to optical fiber in order to cope with the extra workload.

Hubert Meurisse, PACS manager at Mont Godinne shares his comments on the success of a “ filmless ” installation.

From a users point of view :

• the integration of multiple modalities into the same system positively supports the medical imaging operations realized in an hospital environment;
• a single but “ secure ” access that offers clinicians a fast and efficient way to make a diagnostic and therapeutic decision;
• an integration of images in the EPR such that the referring physician obtains a centralized patient view including all clinical and diagnostic data.

From a technology point of view :

• a single software application presenting data in accordance with specific requirements of each medical imaging modality (MPR for PET, stack mode for CT,
  cineview for XA (coronarography), etc.);
• a client / server application with remote and secure access, suited to the user and to available system resources;
• an efficient integration with the EPR both at the server level (e.g. exchange of patient data modifications) and at the client level;
• a fast and user friendly application designed to replace hardcopy film for all clinicians;
• a reliable long term storage and archival;
• a reliable subsitute to hardcopy film for external referring physicians via the TM-Publisher solution.