Evaluation of a personal-computer-based teleradiology system serving an isolated Canadian community

Objective: To evaluate a personal-computer-based teleradiology system for the interpretation of radiologic studies from an isolated community. Methods: During a 5-month study period, 240 radiologic studies from the Grand Manan Hospital, Grand Manan, NE, were digitized and transmitted via telephone lines to the Saint John Regional Hospital, NE, for interpretation. The first 110 cases were interpreted with the use of a 1 K x 1 K monitor, and the remaining cases were interpreted with a 2 K x 2 K monitor. The teleradiology image reports were compared with the plain film reports for each case and discrepancies were identified. A panel reviewed all clinically significant discrepant cases to determine the source of the discrepancy. Results: There was 90.9% concordance between the teleradiology and plain film reports in the studies interpreted with the 1 K x 1 K monitor and a 88.4% concordance in the studies interpreted with the 2 K x 2 K monitor. Only 1.7% (4/240) of the discrepancies were attributed to an inadequate teleradiology digital image. Conclusion: A personal-computer-based teleradiology system can be used to provide diagnostic imaging service of high quality to an isolated community.