Summary
Veterinary teleradiology is the remote interpretation of radiographs, CT, MRI and ultrasound by a radiologist who is not at the clinic. The clinic's modality writes the study as DICOM, the study is sent to a teleradiology platform, a radiologist reads it in a viewer and signs a structured report, and the report comes back to the clinic. How fast depends on the agreed turnaround for each priority. No radiologist on site, no CD and no courier.
What is teleradiology in veterinary medicine?
It is a way of getting a specialist read without the specialist being in the building. A rural mixed practice in Montana and an emergency hospital in Chicago can send studies to the same board-certified radiologist, who may be in a third state.
The workflow has five steps:
- A technician acquires the images on a DR unit, CT, MRI or ultrasound machine.
- The modality writes the images as DICOM files.
- The study is sent to the teleradiology platform, which logs the case and places it on a worklist.
- A radiologist opens the study in a DICOM viewer, reviews every series and writes a structured report.
- The signed report is delivered back to the clinic.
The turnaround is set by agreement for each priority level. In NewLumen the defaults are 60 minutes for stat cases, 240 minutes for urgent cases and 1,440 minutes (24 hours) for routine cases, and each teleradiology group can change them.
Before teleradiology, the same consult meant burning images to a CD, posting or carrying it to the specialist, and waiting days for a mailed or faxed report. For most cases the loop now closes within a shift.
Why does DICOM matter for remote reads?
A DICOM file is more than the image. It carries the patient details, the study and series identifiers, the modality, and the acquisition settings, including the exposure values when the modality records them. When the radiologist opens the study, that context comes with it.
That has three practical effects:
- The radiologist sees how the image was made. Exposure settings and the series structure help explain what is on screen.
- The platform can route by modality. CT studies can go to readers who report CT, and radiographs to a general queue, without anyone sorting them by hand.
- Priors can be matched. A study that carries consistent patient identification can be linked to earlier studies of the same patient, so the radiologist reads with comparison images.
Ask any teleradiology platform whether it stores and transmits native DICOM. A service that converts studies to JPEG or a proprietary format discards the acquisition data and compresses the image. If you want to see how often veterinary DICOM arrives with incomplete identification, our post on veterinary DICOM conformance covers the published data.
What does a structured radiology report contain?
A structured report separates what the radiologist saw from what they think it means, so the referring veterinarian can act on the conclusion without rereading everything.
A NewLumen report has six sections: clinical history, technique, comparison, findings, impression and recommendations. Radiologists work from 17 system templates and 13 system macros, plus their own. Report Assist, one of NewLumen's AI features, pre-structures the sections by species and modality; the radiologist writes the content and signs it. The report autosaves every three seconds, and once finalised it cannot be edited. A change goes in an addendum with a reason, linked to the original.
The signature tells the practice who read the study. In the US, a specialist radiologist is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Radiology (DACVR); in Europe, of the European College of Veterinary Diagnostic Imaging (DipECVDI). Before you sign up with any teleradiology provider, confirm who will be reading your studies and what their credentials are.
How does one worklist serve a group reading for many clinics?
A radiologist reading for a dozen practices without a shared worklist logs into a different system for each one, keeps track of pending cases by hand and pieces billing together at the end of the month. Cases sit unnoticed in the gap between systems.
In NewLumen a radiologist has one login across every connected clinic and five worklist views: All Cases, My Queue, Group Queue, Pending Review and Completed Today. Search runs across patients, owners and clinics.
Routing can be static or algorithmic. Rules match the sending clinic, modality, body area, priority, time of day and day of week, and the first matching rule wins. Any case can be reassigned by hand. Each priority carries an SLA deadline, and an unclaimed stat case escalates to a wider pool of readers. Priority Triage flags urgent studies in the worklist so they are not buried under routine work; it does not diagnose.
Billing rolls up by sign date across every clinic into one CSV, so the group administrator invoices from a single export. For how the worklist, hanging protocols and reports fit together on screen, see Inside NewLumen: the worklist, hanging protocols and structured reporting.
Where does AI fit in a teleradiology workflow?
The ACVR and ECVDI position statement on AI, published in 2025, says AI systems should always be used with a qualified veterinary professional in the loop, and that no commercially available diagnostic imaging product currently meets its standards. AI in a teleradiology workflow is therefore a support for the radiologist, not a replacement.
NewLumen's two AI features follow that line. Priority Triage moves flagged urgent studies up the worklist. Report Assist sets out report sections so the radiologist starts from the right structure for the species and modality. Neither reads the images or signs anything. For a closer look at where imaging AI helps and where vendor claims run ahead of the evidence, read AI in veterinary radiology: hype vs real clinical value.
Teleradiology service or teleradiology platform?
This is the decision most practices and groups actually face.
A teleradiology service supplies the radiologists and the system together. The practice pays per study and gets reports from the service's own readers. It has no say over who reads, how cases are routed or what the worklist looks like. This suits a practice that wants to outsource reads entirely and run no radiology operation of its own.
A teleradiology platform is the infrastructure without the readers. A radiology group or hospital brings its own radiologists and uses the platform for the worklist, viewer, routing, reporting and billing. This suits a group that employs its readers and contracts with several clinics, because the group keeps control of who reads what.
NewLumen is a platform. A teleradiology group runs its readers, routing and billing on it, and the practices that refer to the group can send studies through NewLumen Link with no PACS install, getting reports back in the browser. For more on choosing between providers, see Veterinary teleradiology solutions: advancing animal healthcare.
FAQ
What is teleradiology in veterinary medicine?
Veterinary teleradiology is the remote interpretation of radiographs, CT, MRI and ultrasound by a radiologist who is not at the clinic. The clinic sends the study as DICOM to a teleradiology platform, a radiologist reads it in a viewer and signs a structured report, and the report comes back to the clinic. Turnaround depends on the agreed priority level.
Who reads studies for a veterinary teleradiology service?
Specialist reads come from board-certified veterinary radiologists: Diplomates of the American College of Veterinary Radiology (DACVR) in the US, or of the European College of Veterinary Diagnostic Imaging (DipECVDI) in Europe. Before signing up with a provider, confirm who will read your studies and what their credentials are.
How long does a teleradiology report take?
It depends on the agreement between the practice and the provider, and on the priority of each case. NewLumen's defaults are 60 minutes for stat, 240 minutes for urgent and 24 hours for routine cases, and each teleradiology group can set its own. Get the turnaround for each priority in writing before you start.
Can AI replace a veterinary radiologist in a teleradiology workflow?
No. The ACVR and ECVDI position statement says AI should always be used with a qualified veterinary professional in the loop, and that no commercial imaging AI product currently meets its standards. In NewLumen, Priority Triage flags urgent studies in the worklist and Report Assist pre-structures report sections; the radiologist reads the images, writes the report and signs it.
What is the difference between a teleradiology service and a teleradiology platform?
A service supplies the radiologists and the system together; the practice pays per study and receives reports from the service's readers. A platform is the system without the readers; a group or hospital brings its own radiologists and uses the platform for the worklist, viewer, routing, reporting and billing. Practices that want to outsource reads entirely usually choose a service. Groups that employ their own radiologists usually choose a platform.