Many of us must be aware of the fact that today, “OsiriX is the most versatile platform for a cost effective reporting workstation at much affordable price”, in the field of medical imaging. In this article I am focusing on much the less explored area of OsiriX known as “inter centre connectivity and tele-radiology environment” with MAC OS. Unfortunately, since last decade no other Apple authorised vendor or professional solution provider in the country has been able to understand and cater to the demands of today’s radiology and imaging needs. Finally, now in 2012, Shreeji Scan Services has taken the initiative and come up with a solution that could change the course of telereporting, that too with APPLE platform and its virus free environment.
It is the least explored area of OsiriX, because of lack of technical know-how of the people who provide services for APPLE and OsiriX in India. But in Mumbai, I have come across two enthusiastic youngsters from Shreeji Scan Services who have taken up this challenge and come up with an out-of-the-box solution of providing inter-centre connectivity and Teleradiology using OsiriX.
This is a great feat and achievement for Shreeji Scan Services, thanks to their dedicated research to meet my expectation of tele-reporting on Apple platform. I would like to inform all APPLE fans in India, who inspite of using Apple for so many years, were forced to switch to Windows platform for tele-reporting, as no such solution was available on APPLE platform, that finally the wait is over. I would further wish to inform all Apple loving fans from Medical Fraternity, that finally we have a tele-radiology solution, which works with MAC OS. Thanks to Shreeji Scan Services for coming up with such a wonderful solution for Apple lovers, especially in India.
Recently, we added a auxiliary centre in place, approx two km away from my main setup in Juhu, Mumbai. I was using one of the conventional server based tele-radiology software and had a server hosted in my own centre. But the solution was not feasible because it did not give me connectivity to view images on my I-Phone or I-pad, and the download time was too much, and finally the output was compressed images upon successful download.
My objective was that from my auxiliary centre, I should get real time DICOM images physically transferred to my OsiriX server located at my main centre. Also, I should get access to images on iPad/iPhone or laptop desktop when I am out and emergency hits either of my setup, as it is located in one of the renowned cardiac setups in Mumbai. So, one day I called these guys from Shreeji Scan Services, from whom I had bought an Apple OsiriX workstation an year ago. I put forward my requirements to them, and to my surprise after a span of 15 days they came to me, saying that they had come up with a solution, by which I could get real time DICOM images transferred to my Osirix Workstation in my main centre, as soon as a scan is done in my other centre which is approximately two km away from main centre, and that too automatically, without the intervention of my technician. Further I could even access images, which were present on my OsiriX Server, remotely on iPhone and iPad or any apple or windows laptop. Even I can download DICOM files locally on windows desktop/laptop and open them with any free DICOM viewer available on the Internet.
To me it sounded illogical and overambitious in the first instance, and plus there was a risk involved amounting to few lakh rupees, but seeing the confidence of these youngsters, I decided to give it a try, and as per my expectation, here we stand today with a solution that could change the course of tele-reporting, that too with APPLE platform and its virus free environment.
I still remember them saying that “Sir, we have started new and this is going to be first of its kind setup in India also, but somebody will have to trust us, and we would want to try and fail rather than not taking risk of attempting”. This thing touched me a lot, and moreover there was my own desire to to come up with an Apple-based solution for tele-radiology and inter-centre connectivity. So, I kept full faith in Shreeji Scan Services and decided to proceed with the project.
Frankly speaking, even my close friends told me that I was taking a risk of Rs 7.5 lakhs! But for me it was an adrenaline-pumping thing, as technology has always been my passion and moreover I did it out of my love towards Apple and these youngsters, who were very sincere.
I made my expectations clear to them, I informed that they will have to give me a total solution, from choosing ISP to setting infrastructure and training my staff. I also told them that it should continue working in the same way for a long time, even after its one year warranty. Not only that, I should be able to print report remotely and automatically to both the centres without the need for human intervention at that end.
Finally, the project started in the last week of July. First, OsiriX server was installed at my main centre (the configuration of the server is unbeatable and most powerful than any other Windows server in the country). Secondly, we installed iMac with minor upgrades at auxiliary location as the client machine for auto upload and local viewing. Finally, we chose a local cable ISP and fortunately his specifications matched our technical requirements. Then, we configured the point-to-point connectivity between these two points using reliable and economical CISCO solution. We set up a web-server connectivity and inter-centre connectivity with the help of static IP’s. We used mail print solution because it saved us investment in costly IP printer and static IP plus additional security.
Within a week, my whole new solution was ready and it is working flawlessly since nearly three months now. The following objectives were achieved with the help of this endeavour:
- Automated image transfer from auxiliary centre to main centre, without human intervention. (separated by approx. two km)
- WEB access on i-Phone/i-Pad and Windows desktop at my home
- Advanced post processing at each end possible (Auxiliary main centre and at home)
- No security compromise in any of the place and no more irritating virus issues
- No recurring cost except for internet connectivity cost
- Remote printing of reports to any place without using costly IP Printer
- Auto workload distribution to other junior doctors from server
- Digital signatures with due security
- Sharing studies with referring physician on demand
Finally the wait for Apple-based tele-radiology solution is over, thanks to Shreeji Scan Services and their dedicated effort to understand the needs of today’s radiologists and provide them with acustomised solution as per their needs. I hope that this cost effective solution keeps helping not only the radiologists in metros like Mumbai, but also at remote places.
I hope that Shreeji Scan Services, would continue the good work, and always focus on the innovation and customisation trend, that they have started, rather than focusing on only selling stand-alone OsiriX Workstations.
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