Imaging is a vital part of veterinary medicine. Radiographs, ultrasound scans, CT scans, and MRIs are among the most common veterinary images that you will use in practice. These images will also be used by and shared with many practice stakeholders, such as radiographers, radiologists, in-house specialists, referral partners, and sometimes even patients. Therefore, it is vital to have a way to share them quickly and without any hiccups.
Certain issues might be associated with the sharing of veterinary images, including:

  • Privacy and confidentiality
    • Sharing must be done in compliance with state laws that govern the transmission of medical information of animals.
  • Differences in image viewing capabilities
    • Different image types require viewers with certain specifications. If the image viewers of the receiving parties do not have these, they will be unable to view the image.
  • Inconsistencies in reporting platforms and techniques
    • Just as image viewers may differ, reporting platforms and practices can also vary.
  • Size limitations
  • Unwanted compressions that result in changes in the image quality
  • Delays caused by waiting for one person to finish working on/reporting the image

Essential considerations for image sharing

Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) is the standard for stringing and sharing medical imaging information and other related data. It was specially developed to solve problems associated with the transferring and sharing of medical images. Before its development, it was difficult to decode the images created by medical imaging devices. This problem has been solved with its creation, and images from machines produced by different manufacturers can be easily transmitted.
Since veterinary images fall under the umbrella of medical images, they are also usually DICOM compliant. Therefore, the picture archiving and communication system (PACS) being used by your practice must support DICOM images, as well as non-DICOM images.
The PACS should also address other issues. For example, it should not compromise the image’s quality or size. It should be easily accessible by all people who need access to it, and it should enable multiple people to view and work on the images simultaneously.

The Asteris Keystone PACS Suite

The Asteris Keystone PACS suite was specifically designed for veterinary practices as a holistic solution for veterinary image storage and communication needs. It makes the process of image sharing seamless in various ways, including:

  • Sharing and transferring: It enables you to share DICOM and non-DICOM images of any modality with multiple facilities, colleagues, referral partners, and clients. The process is easy and requires only a few clicks of the mouse.
  • Viewing: The integrated DICOM image viewer enables you to retrieve and review images, aiding you in making accurate diagnoses. It also has advanced features, such as a 2D multi-planar reconstruction that will enable you to reconstruct images in multiple planes. This will help improve your diagnostic accuracy.
  • Security: It provides the automatic archiving, encrypting, and storing of your veterinary images on cloud-based servers. You no longer have to worry about the security of the images that you are sending.
  • Integration: The PACS can easily be integrated into your diagnostic equipment, radiology information system, and practice management software. It even works with other DICOM-compliant image viewers from other providers. It will work with your existing hardware and does not require you to purchase any dedicated hardware for its use.
  • Reporting: The PACS comes with reporting features that enable you to standardize your reports across the board. There are numerous time-saving features, such as speech-to-text conversion and pre-designed templates. You can also create your custom templates for reporting.
  • Advanced teleconsultation workflow: This enables all the different stakeholders who will need to interact with your veterinary images to send consultations easily and provides a reporting platform for responses. This keeps all your files in one central, easily accessible location.
  • Hybrid architecture: By providing local image archival and automatic off-site backups of image data, the PACS enables you to achieve better lossless image compression, preserving the integrity of your files.

Final Thoughts

Since images form an essential part of the daily activities of veterinary practices, it is vital to have a system in place that makes the sharing and handling of these veterinary images safe, secure, and seamless. The Asteris Keystone PACS suite has all the features that you need.
Here at Asteris, it’s our goal to help veterinarians make sound medical decisions with ease, clarity, and confidence by giving them the tools and insights that they need to optimize the way they work.
If you’re ready to stop feeling like there’s not enough time in your day, we can help you optimize your imaging processes and the way you work. Contact our specialists today to get started!