Integrating patient digital photographs with medical imaging examinations.
Senthil Ramamurthy, Pamela Bhatti, Chesnal D Arepalli, Mohamed Salama, James M Provenzale, Srini Tridandapani
Author Information
Senthil Ramamurthy: Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University School of Medicine, 1701 Uppergate Drive NE, Suite 5018, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA, sramamu@emory.edu.
We introduce the concept, benefits, and general architecture for acquiring, storing, and displaying digital photographs along with medical imaging examinations. We also discuss a specific implementation built around an Android-based system for simultaneously acquiring digital photographs along with portable radiographs. By an innovative application of radiofrequency identification technology to radiographic cassettes, the system is able to maintain a tight relationship between these photographs and the radiographs within the picture archiving and communications system (PACS) environment. We provide a cost analysis demonstrating the economic feasibility of this technology. Since our architecture naturally integrates with patient identification methods, we also address patient privacy issues.
