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Dale
A. Miles DDS, MS, FRCD
Diplomate, ABOMR
Introduction
DICOM
- Digital Imaging and Communications
in Medicine: What is it? And,
why should I care? One good thing
happened to dentistry on the long
road to digital imaging. We waited
long enough that medicine struggled
with and mastered the big question
of sharing images between different
"parties" easily. X-ray images could
be shared between vendor and doctor,
doctor and hospital, hospital and
radiologist and about anyone else
who had password privileges. The information
about the patient - name, address,
and other pertinent material - could
also be "communicated" with the image,
safely and securely. And it didn't
matter that the CT scan was acquired
on a GE scanner…it could be read on
any workstation if it was "DICOM"
compliant. In addition, because the
image and accompanying information
was "digital"…it could be sent anywhere
to anyone, electronically! What an
enormous breakthrough. What an enormous
accomplishment. And, it only took
the medical profession and medical
imaging industry 23 years to do it!
We benefit from these struggles and
innovation now as dentists. Was it
worth it?
Well,
as I intimated above, it was
worth it. We can now share this technology
and use the developed standards in
dentistry. DICOM is available
for us now through most digital x-ray
vendors. With new HIPAA rules and
the push to electronic submission
of x-ray images with insurance claims,
there is no better time for we dentists
to "GO Digital"!
Explanation
of DICOM and Dentistry
One of
the best resources to explain the
standard, it's scope and development,
as well as it's potential impact on
our profession, is posted on the Dental
Diagnostic Science web site at the
University of Texas Dental School
at San Antonio by Dr. Brent Dove,
a graduate of the program in Texas.
The web address is http://ddsdx.uthscsa.edu/DICOM.html
.
The
ADA and DICOM
At the
American Dental Association's Technology
Day this past October in San Francisco,
several dentists and clinician-radiologists
presented information on "Interoperability"
to the attendees. Drs Alan Farman,
Brent Dove, Larry Emmott, Barry Freydberg,
Claudio Levato and myself related
how we dentists could and do share
digital image information in private
practice, dental schools and between
professionals and commercial vendors.
The topics were:
DICOM
is a reality. It has been embraced
by the dental vendors eliminates another
perceived stumbling block to digital
x-ray system adoption.
What
Does DICOM Mean To My Practice and
Me?
When
you purchase and use an hardware or
software from a vendor who is DICOM
conformant, you will be able to acquire
an image, save it on removable media
for the patient to take to another
dentist (when they move, and they
do), another dental specialist (as
in a referral with many images for
a case), or receive these DICOM
images from another dentist or dental
specialist and actually view them
on your computer - that's "Interoperability"!
Some
manufacturers also have built into
their products the ability for you
or I to perform "Query" and "Retrieve"
functions with DICOM images so that
we can upload them to a site (or download
them from a site) and have another
colleague do the same - all by password
and with all images safely encrypted…so
that the patient does not have to
actually "carry" the images on removable
media to another location. In addition,
dentists could have almost immediate
"second opinion" capability if they
use DICOM conformant technology.
We live in a truly remarkable digital
age.
Who
are the Vendors and How Compliant
are they to this Standard?
Here
is a list of companies/manufacturers
that have conformancy statements explaining
what DICOM capability/capabilities
they have, including some links to
their DICOM information if they have
it:
Note:
if you visit the site and there is
no DICOM information, I couldn't
find a statement…please let me know
if you are able to find it yourself…thanks
Dentrix:
http://www.dentrix.com/products/ddo/image/index.asp
DEXIS:
http://www.dexray.com/index.html
Gendex (Dentsply) now
Danaher Corporation:
http://www.gendexxray.com/
Instrumentarium Imaging
(purchased by G.E. Medical):
http://usa.instrumentarium.com/dental/sigma.htm
LightYear
Technology:
http://www.lightyeartechnology.com
Mediadent:
http://www.mediadent.com/web/index.html
PlanmecaUSA:
http://www.planmecausa.com/dicom.asp
PracticeWorks/Trophy (Kodak):
Schick
Technologies:
http://www.schicktech.com/items.php?itemid=4227
Sirona:
http://www.sirona.com/ecomaXL/index.php?site=SIRONA_COM_xraysystem
SoredexUSA: now Instrumentarium
Suni Imaging:
http://www.suni.com/products/intraoral_sensor.html
ViperSoft:
http://www.vipersoft.com/Products/ViperRay/
Visiodent:
http://www.visiodent.com/en/dxr.html
Happy
hunting as you "Go Digital"…."hope
this helps"….Dale
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