iPhone works for CTC reading

iPhones may be used to read CT colonography (CTC) images from patients screened for colorectal cancer.

However, the smartphone’s small screen means that the reading takes longer, according to research presented at the European Congress of Radiology in Vienna.

In an iPhone experiment conducted in Pisa, Italy, two experienced raters read CTC datasets independently on the iMac and on the iPhone.

Lesions included 25 polyps sized less than 6 mm (37.3%), 29 between 6 and 9 mm (43.3%), 10 between 10 mm and 30 mm (14.9%), and 3 colonic masses (4.5%).

All lesions diagnosed on the iMac were also detected on the iPhone. However, the time required to complete reading of CTC datasets was significantly longer using the iPhone than with the conventional workstation.

The experimenters reported that this was predominantly due to the need to repeatedly pan and zoom over the various colonic segments on the small iPhone screen.

Elsewhere in the congress, iPads and iPhones had a high profile with many vendors showing versions of their software on the new generation of mobile devices.

“I’m thinking of getting iPads for all my radiologists,” said the senior clinician watching a demo by Aycan Medical Systems.

The company has developed an iPad app using OsiriX; the open source PACS professional workstation and DICOM viewer.

The app enables radiologists to download images for mobile viewing on an iPad or send images to colleagues on a Facebook-style “buddy list”.

Aycan’s Tobias Maiwald explained: “Radiologists are one of the main target users for Apple, more than the rest of the hospital, because they are working with images.”

Apple, loved by designers and photographers for its high quality images, has its sights on the radiology community too.

The challenge, according to Maiwald, was achieving secure transfer of images. But the problems were solved and the app – offering encypted, anonymised, password-protected image transfer to the iPad – was attracting brisk business following its launch at the show and in the Apple app store.