An Evaluation of Digital Imaging Studies in an Outpatient Orthopedic Setting

Background: Distribution of radiographic images in the outpatient setting on compact discs-recordable (CD-R) iscommonplace. Opening, manipulating and interpreting these can be challenging. This study evaluated the availabilityand ease of use of CD-R to evaluate digital images in an outpatient orthopedic setting.Methods: 118 CD-R containing diagnostic studies were evaluated by seven board certified orthopaedic surgeons.Surgeon age and self-perceived “tech savvy” scores were tabulated using a visual analog scale (VAS). Surgeonsevaluated: ability and number of computers to open, autorun, and specific reader software. Time to load was recordedin seconds, type of study, presence of “not for diagnostic use”, and if the disc required additional software. Studies weregraded using a VAS for ease of opening, ability to move from image to image and/or between series, to manipulatethe image, and to zoom and pan.Results: There were 79 radiographs, 29 MRI’s, and 10 CT scans. Seven (6%) had to be manually opened andfour (3%) required software installation. Thirteen (11%) contained a warning that the studies should not be used fordiagnostic purposes. Six (5%) of the studies could not be opened. For the opened studies, average time from diskinsertion to image was 43.7 seconds overall (range 3-350), 65.3 seconds (range 21-191) for MRI and CT, and 35.2seconds (range 5-177) for radiographs.Conclusion: The present digital imaging systems include different software types and a variety of interfaces.Improving this would decrease time and effort necessary to open and evaluate these studies, and improveefficiency.Level of evidence: III