Kodak exhibits enhanced RIS/PACS, mammography workstation

Kodak is unveiling at the RSNA meeting the latest version of its RIS/PACS technology, a suite of products that supports native applications including 3D volume rendering. The enhanced version of DirectView System 5 allows improved customization and the ability to save display protocols.

The company is also showing a new PACS upgrade to mammography and a prototype RIS to be tailored for use in freestanding imaging centers.

The enhanced System 5, scheduled for release in early 2005, will enable referring physicians to receive information with radiology reports e-mailed or embedded in an electronic medical record holding key marked images. They will have the option to view an entire imaging study via secure Web-based access.

The new RIS/PACS version features an improved graphic user interface, streamlined exam reporting, an advanced report search engine for pulling up related cases, new radiologist-defined display protocols, and the ability to add electronic notes to imaging studies.

Kodak's new DirectView Mammography Workstation, which comes with an ergonomically designed hand controller, integrates digital mammography with general radiology workflow. It is part of the company's mammography PACS upgrade scheduled for delivery in the first quarter of 2005. The upgrade supports image review and storage of full-field digital mammograms, as well as images obtained through other digital modalities. Display protocols are designed to enhance productivity. The hand controller is meant to reduce repetitive stress injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome.

Kodak is working on a RIS tailored for freestanding imaging centers. The company exhibited a prototype of the RIS 2010 as part of a broader effort to meet the needs of imaging centers. Other efforts address teleradiology and scalable PACS.