New Workstation Tools Designed to Help with Image Sharing

A new workstation product blends the capabilities of a basic diagnostic workstation with routing capabilities typically found in a complete picture archiving and communications system (PACS). Designed for distributed imaging centers where diagnostic images are captured at one facility, yet reported or archived at another, the system allows for fast and secure transmission of health information.

ClearCanvas, Inc. (Toronto, Canada), a medical imaging informatics company, announced the release of two new workstation products designed to assist with image sharing. ClearCanvas ShareAgent is a routing application that allows healthcare professionals to transfer medical images to any Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM)-enabled device and ClearCanvas ShareStation is a comprehensive mini-PACS. Both products are based on ClearCanvas’ powerful workstation development platform and operate on standard off-the-shelf computer hardware.

ShareAgent can also be implemented as a basic quality assurance (QA) workstation for Technologists and Radiologists to review patient studies before they are sent off for reporting. A basic DICOM editor allows users to correct inaccurate patient information found in DICOM tags. ShareAgent includes a comprehensive set of networking features protocols, including DICOM send/receive, query/retrieve, and move.

Routing rules can be rapidly configured to automatically distribute medical images based on a variety of criteria including modality, referring physician, study description, and institution name, among other rules. Various forms of lossy and lossless compression in the solution can be applied to different studies to accelerate transmission times. For optimal network usage, ShareAgent also allows routing to be scheduled during off peak hours when network activity is at its lowest. Emergency STAT cases can be immediately transferred through a variety of manual overrides in the system. ClearCanvas ShareAgent can be deployed in hosted environments to support vendors offering software as a service (SaaS)-based solutions.

ClearCanvas ShareStation is a mini-PACS designed for medical imaging facilities that perform less than 5,000 studies per year. Unlike other mini-PACS solutions on the market, ShareStation does not require the use of costly servers to operate. It incorporates a variety of sophisticated diagnostic features for radiologists, including multi-planar reconstruction (MPR), hanging protocols, positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) image fusion with standard uptake values (SUV), media burning, spine labeling, digital subtraction imaging, and ClearCanvas’ popular Easel function (where relevant priors are automatically loaded for each patient study). A variety of routing capabilities are similarly integrated into the system that supports communication with any DICOM device. Routing functions are managed through an Activity Monitor that allows users with little networking experience to easily send and receive medical images from their workstation interface.

Eric Lapperre, CEO of AroWare.com, a cloud solutions company, recently stated that, “ClearCanvas’ products have a great interface and workflow that our customers find intuitive to use. I believe that both the ShareAgent and ShareStation will build upon the company’s excellent portfolio and track record for delivering leading edge technology at a reasonable price. Based on our experience with beta versions of this software, I expect that many of our customers will be very interested in these solutions.”

ClearCanvas ShareAgent and ClearCanvas ShareStation share a standardized graphic user interface (GUI) with the company’s other popular workstation products (ClearCanvas Workstation, ClearCanvas Chirostation, and ClearCanvas Vetstation).

“Image sharing has become an increasingly important function in healthcare,” said Norman Young, President and CEO of ClearCanvas, Inc. “From external specialists that need access to diagnostic images to other referring physicians, collaborative approaches have placed a high demand for secure, easy-to-use routing capabilities. ShareAgent and ShareStation represent our company’s initial Workstation offerings in this area which will be expanded in subsequent releases.”

ClearCanvas’ standards-based development platform allows ShareAgent and ShareStation to communicate with image archives and workstations from other vendors. ClearCanvas ShareAgent and ClearCanvas ShareStation are currently available from a range of authorized resellers worldwide.

ClearCanvas is a worldwide provider of medical imaging solutions designed for radiology and specialty clinics, community hospitals, and research facilities. ClearCanvas solutions include diagnostic workstations, PACS, and radiology information systems (RIS) incorporated with a variety of advanced partner applications that support specific workflows. ClearCanvas development platforms and freely available open source products are used by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) worldwide to lower development costs and accelerate time-to-market.

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