Radiology, Vol 177, 707-708, Copyright © 1990 by Radiological Society of North America
Feasibility of digital teleradiology for imaging evaluation of patients with acute right upper quadrant abdominal pain
DJ DiSantis, JC Scatarige, MS Cramer and MH Kim
Department of Radiology, DePaul Medical Center, Norfolk, VA 23505.
To assess the utility of a commercially available digital teleradiology
system in evaluating patients with acute pain in the right upper quadrant,
hard-copy images from 100 examinations (50 hepatobiliary scintigrams and 50
sonograms of the right upper quadrant) were digitized, transmitted via
standard telephone lines, and viewed remotely on a video monitor. Video and
hard-copy interpretations were then compared for degree of concordance. For
the scintigraphic studies, hard-copy and video images were equal in
demonstrating gallbladder and bile duct activity. Video images failed to
depict the presence of bowel activity in one case. Gallstones were depicted
equally well on hard- copy and video sonographic images. The video
interpreters overestimated the presence of abnormal hepatic parenchyma and
overlooked one case of right hydronephrosis. The video interpretations of
the scintigrams and sonograms showed an overall error rate of 4%,
comparable to the rate obtained when radiographs are interpreted remotely
with digital teleradiology systems.
