Search

For this historical review, we searched a database containing all the articles published in Acta Radiologica during its 100-year history to find those on the use of information technology (IT) in radiology. After reading the full texts, we selected the presented articles according to major radiology IT domains such as teleradiology, picture archiving and communication systems, image processing, image analysis, and computer-aided diagnostics in order to describe the development as it appeared in the journal. Publications generally follow IT megatrends, but because the contents of Acta Radiologica are mainly clinically oriented, some technology achievements appear later than they do in journals discussing mainly imaging informatics topics.

A joint case-conference was conducted between the Departments of Radiology at Nagoya and Kobe Universities using the Space Collaboration System (SCS), which connects 39 national universities and institutes by communication satellite. In the conference, both sides presented cases using medical images such as those from CT, MRI, and DSA, and the cases were discussed between participants at the two universities. After the final conference, we distributed a questionnaire to solicit responses from the 43 participating radiologists on the quality of the transferred images and their overall impression of the conference. The responses showed that the CT, MRI, and DSA images were clear enough to allow discussion, whereas the plain X-ray images were not. Hence from the standpoint of image quality, the SCS may be unsuited for medical image diagnosis, but useful for presentation of case images in joint conferences and seminars.

Memorial University of Newfoundland has been continuously involved in telemedicine activities since 1975. Unlike most early telemedicine programs, which did not continue after grant funding ended, Memorial made the transition to create a self-sufficient Telemedicine Centre. Key to its success was the vision and drive of its founder, Dr. Max House, and adherence to the following principles: (1) all activities were based on a legitimate need; (2) the simplest, least expensive technology was used to meet the need; (3) the network was shared by a variety of users; and (4) users were given proper training and support. Over the years, Memorial has been involved in 30 telemedicine projects, many of which became ongoing services. Although most initial activity was health related, educational activities have played an increasingly important role. In 1997, the Telemedicine Centre delivered approximately 7000 hours of programming and administered a network of 247 dedicated audioconference sites in 161 communities (168 of the sites had telewriter workstations and 75 had multimedia workstations) and eight videoconferencing sites. Approximately 70% of all programming was distant high school and university education, 20% health education, 5% clinical activities, and 5% other uses. Current clinical activities include tele-electroencephalograms, tele-ultrasonography, tele-nuclear medicine, child telepsychiatry, general teleconsultation from a remote nursing station, and general teleconsultation from an offshore oil platform. Lessons learned from more than 20 years of telemedicine experience are presented.

This paper describes the evolution of a german teleradiology system. The development started from simple image file transfer, continued with a dedicated teleradiology system and ended up with a general radiology workstation with teleradiology features. The main features, advantages and drawbacks of the different generations are described. The own developments are compared with developments at other places. The influence by standards is also included in this investigation. The latest systems are mainly used by the radiologists and the image transfer for scientific cooperation is nowadays just one of several application fields of teleradiology.

The University Hospital of Tromsø has been involved in a variety of telemedicine activities since the late 1980s, including teleradiology, telepathology, teledermatology, remote endoscopy, remote gastroscopy, teleechocardiography, transmission of electrocardiograms, telepsychiatry, electronic delivery of laboratory results and distance learning for health professionals. Since 1993 the department of telemedicine in Tromsø has been designated the national centre of competence in telemedicine. With a wealth of experience to draw from, a critical number of health-care professionals exposed to and using telemedicine routinely, the support of the Norwegian health authoriues, a national centre guiding telemedicine research, no licensing barriers within the country, nationwide ISDN and reimbursement for telemedicine services, the future of telemedicine in Norway looks promising.