Slashdot Mirror
iPods Used for Medical Images
spagiola writes "There's a nice little story on CNN about a doctor in Geneva who has developed ways to use iPods to view medical images. His software, called Osirix (OSS, BTW) enables medical professionals to view medical images on their iPods, saving them and the hospitals they work for thousands of dollars in expensive equipment."
You could have read the article, they just use the iPods to save the photo and carry it around (the photo capability of the iPod was added even after the project was started).
Not exactly what TFA says, they don't 'use' the iPod to 'view', they store the images on the iPod in file mode, so the article could re-written to say:
Some people have created sofware which allows images to be stored on an external hard drive.
In other words....
Nothing to see here, this is not the video/photo ipod in action.
Before anyone gets into a tiff about viewing the images on a small iPod screen, I suggest you read the article. The physicians are merely STORING the images on the iPod and then hooking the iPod up to a personal computer (w/nice monitor) to view the images.
To sum up, RTFA
Shame really, our legal system is going to make adoption of new tools (in medicine in particular) difficult.
Still a neat concept. She should win an award or something just for outside the box thinking.
This article has recently been linked from Slashdot. Please keep an eye on the page history for errors or vandalism.
You may have RTFM'd, but they do mention that they're dealing with quantities of data that won't fit on a DVDR. Many hospitals don't have giant fat broadband links to habitually transfer that kind of data with them either. So they're mainly using the iPod as a really convenient 40Gb-60Gb portable hard drive that travels with the patient or doctor because a bunch of them from a publicity-hungry Apple (who probably give them a discount) is a lot cheaper than installing that fat hospital network.
"I Know You Are But What Am I?"
I do medical imaging in the U.S. for a livelihood. I'm pretty sure nobody has ever done a clinical read (e.g. medical evaluation resulting in a report) on the iPod. Anyone who would do that should have their board cert pulled and probably would do something else equally stupid. OSIRIS has been around for a while -- I don't see why it's news. The real issue is medical record privacy and the thought of med images running around on an iPod scares the bejeezus out of the boards or people responsible for HIPAA compliance at most institutions. If leaked, the header info that comes with a DICOM formatted data set easily violates privacy at a level sufficient to trigger a $15k slap on the wrist and/or 6months jail time.
For most imaging modalities reading on a 14 or 15" is not enough -- though I suppose PET/SPECT and UltraSound may be exceptions. Heck even high quality jpg compression can be lossy enough to cause missed stress fractures.
You want to use a portable 40GB device to store images? I'm not sure about this, but I think there are products out there like that that cost a little less than $300
I would agree that the functionality of viewing these images on the 2.5" iPod screen does not make me feel too cosy...
I was wondering about this too, but I think there are a couple of reasons.
First, Compact Flash isn't comparable to a 30, 40, or 60 gig HD. It sounds like they're dealing with some high res 2D and 3D images that would probably max out a 4 gig CF pretty quickly.
Secondly, I think Ratib & Rosset the software with the intention of using it on iPods the medical personnel already had, not with the intention of buying new hardware for it.
I'm sure a lot of doctors already have PDAs, but again the file size/storage issue rears its ugly head. Of course, I'm just guessing.
You can set the iPod to require a 4-digit access code. I don't know at what level it locks things out or how secure it really is, but at least there is a little protection.
This might fly in Switzerland, but it's not going to comply with US laws.
d, the header info that comes with a DICOM formatted data set easily violates privacy at a level sufficient to trigger a $15k slap on the wrist and/or 6months jail time.
They stripped the files of identifiable information prior to saving on the iPod. And if this was still an issue, there's no reason the files couldn't also be encrypted.
Having said that, I'm still not sure its the most cost-effective way of doing things (vs. a generic external HD).
Take a look at iPod nano: How to use the Screen Lock . It has information for the Nano, and I'm assuming the video iPod is similar.
Just FYI to the point about how secure it is :
Screen Lock only locks users out of the user interface. It does not encrypt data on your iPod. For example, if you use Screen Lock and then connect your iPod nano to a computer, you'll be able to manage music on your iPod with iTunes and access all data on it in disk mode (contacts, notes, and any other files you have stored on the iPod).
IIRC, iChat uses libgiam for the AOL OSCAR compatability. And among the recent Google Summer of Code projects was adding support to Giam for the iChat ad-hoc instant messenger networks set up using Apple's Bonjour.
Imagine a doctor sharing video of a cardio CT with a cardiologist 1000 miles away using less than $2500 in hardware and a DSL connection.
This bring so many possibilties to the medical field. A specialist in Massachusetts consults with the primary care physician in Maine and a colleague in Florida, all viewing the same CT footage... A patient able to carry MRI images to a specialist.
With a quick look at the OsiriX Documentation it looks like it has an Export to QuickTime option, which should make it easy to produce videos for the iPod - though I wouldn't want to wait for a Mac mini to do it. It is possible that a doctor could drop video onto a 6G iPod and view it on the small screen or output it to a TV.
That what was all this school was for... to teach us how to solve our own problems. -- janeowit