Extended Outlook: Description, Utilization, and Daily Applications of Cloud Technology in Radiology

Abstract

Cloud computing is the delivery of shared resources, software, and information to computers and other devices as a metered service. This technology has a promising role in the sharing of patient medical information and appears to be particularly suited for application in radiology, given the field's inherent need for storage and access to large amounts of data. The radiology cloud has significant strengths, such as providing centralized storage and access, reducing unnecessary repeat radiologic studies, and potentially allowing radiologic second opinions more easily. There are significant cost advantages to cloud computing because of a decreased need for infrastructure and equipment by the institution. Private clouds may be used to ensure secure storage of data and compliance with HIPAA. In choosing a cloud service, there are important aspects, such as disaster recovery plans, uptime, and security audits, that must be considered. Given that the field of radiology has become almost exclusively digital in recent years, the future of secure storage and easy access to imaging studies lies within cloud computing technology.

A scoping review of cloud computing in healthcare

“…As a visionary paper it remains on a conceptual level and does not explicitly refer to implementations. Similarly, Gerard also motivates the utilization of cloud technologies in radiology in his extended outlook, if adequate service level agreements are in place to guarantee uptime and performance and security is granted [ 24 ].…”

“…Our literature research revealed 22 theoretical papers that did not describe a specific cloud project but provided more common information on cloud computing in healthcare [ 4 - 6 , 8 , 14 , 23 , 24 , 26 , 49 - 52 , 56 , 79 - 87 ]. 12 articles include descriptions of basic conceptual work for cloud projects, but included no creation of a real system [ 16 , 30 , 35 , 46 , 53 , 54 , 63 , 77 , 88 - 92 ].…”

“…rapid elasticity, followed by broad network access, resource pooling, on-demand self-service and measured service at least. But only eight publications directly cite NIST’s definition [ 4 , 5 , 18 , 23 , 24 , 40 , 52 , 55 , 63 , 67 , 75 , 81 , 83 , 85 , 100 ]. Thus, in most of the articles presenting cloud applications, details about the real deployment and service models remain unclear.…”

Novel platform for development, training, and validation of computer-assisted detection/diagnosis software

“…If clinical data are to be stored in a cloud environment, it is necessary to comply with privacy laws and guidelines in each state and country. In particular, the physical location of the cloud infrastructure is critical [40,41].…”

PACS for the Developing World

“…CaaS should offer absolute costs savings over the traditional purchased hardware and software model (22). There is the further advantage of reduced upfront costs associated with PACS deployment (23). CaaS can support virtually all facets of a PACS deployment without the requirement for locally installed software.…”