An Evaluation of Digital Imaging Studies in an Outpatient Orthopedic Setting

Background: Distribution of radiographic images in the outpatient setting on compact discs-recordable (CD-R) iscommonplace. Opening, manipulating and interpreting these can be challenging. This study evaluated the availabilityand ease of use of CD-R to evaluate digital images in an outpatient orthopedic setting.Methods: 118 CD-R containing diagnostic studies were evaluated by seven board certified orthopaedic surgeons.Surgeon age and self-perceived tech savvy scores were tabulated using a visual analog scale (VAS). Surgeonsevaluated: ability and number of computers to open, autorun, and specific reader software. Time to load was recordedin seconds, type of study, presence of not for diagnostic use , and if the disc required additional software. Studies weregraded using a VAS for ease of opening, ability to move from image to image and/or between series, to manipulatethe image, and to zoom and pan.Results: There were 79 radiographs, 29 MRI’s, and 10 CT scans. Seven (6%) had to be manually opened andfour (3%) required software installation. Thirteen (11%) contained a warning that the studies should not be used fordiagnostic purposes. Six (5%) of the studies could not be opened. For the opened studies, average time from diskinsertion to image was 43.7 seconds overall (range 3-350), 65.3 seconds (range 21-191) for MRI and CT, and 35.2seconds (range 5-177) for radiographs.Conclusion: The present digital imaging systems include different software types and a variety of interfaces.Improving this would decrease time and effort necessary to open and evaluate these studies, and improveefficiency.Level of evidence: III

Keywords:

CD-R , Outpatient imaging