iPad-based primary 2D reading of CT angiography examinations of patients with suspected acute gastrointestinal bleeding: preliminary experience

Abstract

Tablet computers are emerging as promising devices for mobile visualization of medical images from crosssectional modalities (such as CT and MRI), owing to their good screen resolution, larger display size than that of conventional smartphones and excellent power-to-weight ratio. 1 Among them, the iPad (Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA) has gained wide popularity in the medical community owing to its high screen resolution (.3 MP, i.e. comparable to regular radiological workstations), its reasonably fast processor and large storage capacity (allowing browsing smoothly through large image data sets) and the availability of digital imaging and communications in medicine (DICOM)-compliant apps for image viewing and sharing that can retrieve DICOM images via wireless networks or cloud services connected to a picture archiving communication system (PACS) infrastructure. A potential perspective of this technological evolution is the usage of tablets in a teleconsultation setting for remote twodimensional (2D) reading of emergency CT examinations, requiring fast, on-the-fly reviewing of images in the absence of a dedicated workstation. 2,3 In this respect, evidence exists in the literature that the iPad can successfully be used for 2D reading of emergency pulmonary CT angiography (CTA), head CT and spinal MRI studies, with a diagnostic accuracy comparable to regular PACS workstations. [4][5][6][7] Acute non-variceal gastrointestinal bleeding (ANVGIB) is a life-threatening condition associated with elevated morbidity and mortality rates, requiring immediate diagnosis and treatment. CTA is now considered the mainstay for ANVGIB diagnosis owing to its high diagnostic accuracy in detection of acute arterial bleeding, thus helping to optimize treatment planning. [8][9][10] Digital subtraction angiography (DSA) followed by transcatheter embolization of the bleeding source is

Impact of Concurrent Use of Artificial Intelligence Tools on Radiologists Reading Time: A Prospective Feasibility Study

“…Some factors are hardly surprising, such as the time of day, the experience of the radiologist and the number of interruptions À others more puzzling, such as the size and luminescence of the screen, the use of key images in reporting, and the image order in the hanging protocol. (12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18) Given this complexity, it does not seem unreasonable to assume that the reading times when using AI can be differently affected in a clinical environment and a research environment. This seems supported by studies which find that CAD findings affect the reading times of individual radiologists differently.…”

An HTML5-Based Pure Website Solution for Rapidly Viewing and Processing Large-Scale 3D Medical Volume Reconstruction on Mobile Internet

“…In the era of mobile Internet (WIFI or 3G as fundamental carrier), with increasingly large amounts of SMI data of high quality, people desire to rapidly view and process this 3D visualized reconstruction of high quality in a diversified network environment via different client devices without installing special software [ 3 ]. In particular, many studies have reported that there were no significant differences of diagnostic accuracy regarding more and more diseases between mobile devices and the traditional workstations that promoted the further development of medical imaging technology on mobile Internet [ 4 – 9 ]. Presently, the 3D visualized reconstruction techniques in medicine have fallen into the following two main categories: surface rendering and volume rendering [ 10 ], both with their own characteristics to adapt to the Internet application.…”

Remote reading of coronary CTA exams using a tablet computer: utility for stenosis assessment and identification of coronary anomalies

“…Several prior studies have compared image reading apps on mobile devices to standard clinical workstations and found no significant difference in interpretation accuracy for the identification of pulmonary embolism [6,7], acute gastrointestinal bleed on CT angiography [8], acute aortic syndrome [9], cerebral infarction or hemorrhage [7,10,11], and spinal emergencies [12]. However, coronary CTA exams present special challenges for remote interpretation given the small size of coronary arteries (generally <5 mm) and the importance of interactive manipulation of the imaging volume into reformatted planes, as opposed to the standard axial, sagittal, and coronal planes.…”