2003 October

Plotting the Course to Become a PACS Administrator

Film digitizers are helping radiology departments bridge the technology gap between analog film and the digital imaging environment.

Computer-aided detection has become an increasingly valuable tool in radiology departments, as the detection of more cancer lesions in patients convert more believers.

The conclusions of the Space Shuttle Columbia Accident Investigation Board, headed by retired Admiral Harold W. Gehman Jr. were published in August. The board placed ultimate blame for the spacecraft's horrific destruction on NASA's corporate culture and on politicians who mandated the Shuttle's purpose and milestones. It teaches us how any massive, critical, new-technology project - including a healthcare information and image management system - can come awry.

I get this question about every other month, sometimes in the forms of: "When will DICOM be replaced by HL7?", "Wouldn't HL7 version 3 make DICOM obsolete?", "Why not use one standard?"

Welcome to the inaugural editorial issue of Health Imaging & IT magazine.