LOW-COST DIGITAL TELERADIOLOGY

A teleradiology link based on standard personal computers and a flat-b ed CCD scanner was tested. A 64 kbit/s dial-up digital ISDN telephone line was used for transmission. A total of 254 films (174 uncompressed , 80 compressed) were sent. Ninety-six per cent of the uncompressed im ages and 98% of the compressed images were considered technically acce ptable. The total diagnostic agreement between the acceptable transmit ted images and the original films was 98%. Image quality was sufficien t for diagnosis in CT and conventional chest and bone radiographs. How ever, a 256-step gray scale of the scanner was not sufficient for dema nding situations, such as overexposed images with a high contrast grad ient. The average speed of transmission was 60 kbit/s, which was consi dered adequate. The tested system suggests that a teleradiology link b ased on standard personal computers and programs works in situations w here instant consultation is needed. However, the image digitization t ime with the prototype system was quite long, and a better user interf ace is under development.