Postprocessing and 3D Applications Tackle Radiologists’ Clinical and Workflow Needs

Enhanced postprocessing tools have been devised that are incorporated directly into the radiologist reading workflow to improve efficiency and productivity.

Agfa HealthCare’s (Mortsel, Belgium) Impax Clinical Applications 2.1 is a suite of advanced image processing and three-dimensional (3D) rendering tools. Using its foundation of experience with more than 2,000 Impax picture archiving and communication system (PACS) installations worldwide, Agfa HealthCare has designed the product to address the clinical needs of radiologists and clinicians by integrating the advanced processing applications directly into the Impax PACS workflow.

“Impax Clinical Applications 2.1 is a win facility-wide because of its unique combination of clinical efficiency and cost benefits,” said Lenny J. Reznik, director of enterprise imaging and information, Agfa HealthCare, US. “Now when radiologists are interpreting large, complex exams, they can have the benefit of Agfa HealthCare’s advanced processing tools integrated right into their workflow and at the point of care for more informed healthcare delivery. And because the solution is offered modularly, it is cost-effective by enabling a healthcare facility to add only those tools that their physicians use most often.”

Impax Clinical Applications 2.1 enables more efficient and rapid availability of results because all reading and reporting tools are integrated directly within the Impax workflow and on one desktop. Users can switch between applications without reloading study images, and access to priors for comparative data sets is only one click away.

Other advancements of Impax Clinical Applications 2.1 are (1) consistent and familiar Impax user interface for ease of use and deployment; flexible presentation layouts that adapt to workflows; (2) completely new framework, resulting in better performance, improved stability, and easier maintenance; (3) ability to export new series and or movies to original study; (4) modular offering ranging from basic maximum intensity projection-multiplanar reformat (MIP-MPR) functionality to sophisticated multimodality positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) viewing; (5) live restore capability that supports interrupted workflow; (6) automatic selection of central processing unit (CPU) or graphics processing unit (GPU) for faster 3D volume rendering; (7) comparative study viewing modes with automatic and manual series registration, and synchronized views for side-by-side 3D viewing; and (8) addition of Impax vessel viewing for CT angiography (CTA) reporting.

The product is modular to provide radiologists with a selection of the tools they use most frequently, and therefore provides a cost-effective pricing structure for healthcare facilities. It is easy to deploy and maintain, requiring no specialized display cards, which is crucial for those applications that are used on a large number of workstations such as the MIP-MPR functionality. Other modules available include 3D, advanced 3D with comparative mode, vessel analysis, registration and fusion, PET-CT viewing and Impax virtual colonoscopy (not available in the US).

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