Hospitals provide mobile access to X-rays, other medical images

What used to be seen only on large, black squares of film is now available to doctors and surgeons on mobile computer screens.

In recent weeks, Hilton Head and Coastal Carolina hospitals have begun using the Picture Archiving Computer System, or PACS.

Here's how it works. When a doctor wants to take a chest X-ray, for example, he can use an imaging plate to capture the X-ray rather than film. The image is sent to the PACS within 20 minutes to an hour. That image can be accessed by any health care provider employed by either hospital. Patients cannot access the images online.

The same method applies to images captured from computed tomography, or CT, scans, magnetic resonance imaging of the brain or coronary angiograms of the heart's arteries.

Health care workers don't have to be at the hospital to see the information.

"They can even bring up the image from their home computer," said Eric Miller, who operates the PACS from the island hospital. "Doctors on call can see the severity of the case (from home) before deciding if he or she needs to come in."

The PACS also is available on mobile units that can be brought into the operating room.

If heart surgeons want to see an angiogram before operating, they can have the image on display before starting the procedure.

"Prior to the PACS, surgeons were required to leave the sterile field if they wanted to check out the image," Miller said.

Dr. David Kastl, cardiothoracic surgeon, said he and others have a new name for the mobile PACS.

"We call it a 'computer on wheels' or 'The Cow,' " he said. "It's wireless, and it's accessible to any operating room for surgeons to review. So if I need to review the coronary arteries, I have easy access."

Kastl said the digital images can sometimes take a better picture than film.

That's also true for the digital mammography images.

Miller said the PACS software for digital mammography will identify areas invisible to the human eye that might be suspicious or possibly cancerous.

"Plain film mammography was very time-consuming for radiologists," he said. "This helps them become more efficient."

All the images are backed up on tapes and stored at the hospital and at a facility near Charleston.

A secure room in the hospital houses the data center, which consists of eight gray towers holding 20 servers shared by the cardiology and radiology departments. The project cost the hospital about $2.5 million.

Miller said the system will be upgraded constantly as new equipment becomes available and storage capacity increases.

Elizabeth Lamkin, president and CEO of the island hospital, said the new technology allows doctors to provide patients with better care because they don't have to waste time searching for film and images. It also helps other doctors working with the same patient to have the most up-to-date information quickly.

"Looking-for-the-chart days are gone because everyone can access it simultaneously," she said.