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57 °F Forecast | Road Cams Wednesday, January 26, 2005 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Opportunities Moving to Southern Oregon? MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend November 10, 2004 Mike Baker, director of diagnostic imaging at Providence Medford Medical Center, displays two X-ray images that are stored in computers instead of on film. Providence Medford has converted its X-ray department to digital technology. Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell The X-ray (computer) files Diagnosis goes digital as doctors turn to technology to take a clearer picture of patients By BILL KETTLER Mail Tribune The days of lugging your X-rays from doctor to doctor are about to end. The X-ray, like so many other facets of medical technology, is going digital. Doctors will still use X-rays to look at your insides, but they’ll be looking at the images on computer screens instead of pieces of film. Putting X-ray pictures into computers will save hospitals time and money and help physicians and nurses do a better job, says Mike Baker, director of diagnostic imaging at Providence Medford Medical Center. Large urban hospitals have been converting to digital X-rays over the past few years, and now Southern Oregon hospitals are following suit. Providence installed a digital X-ray system in October. Rogue Valley Medical Center plans to convert to digital X-rays next summer. "We’ve gotten rid of our darkroom," Baker said Tuesday. Advertisement X-ray images that are stored as computer files instead of sheets of film are easier to retrieve for viewing, Baker said. They also cost less to produce, store and maintain. Providence invested several hundred thousand dollars in hardware and software for the system in Medford, which is also used at Providence hospitals throughout Oregon. Administrators expect to recover those costs relatively quickly, because they will save about $7 in film alone for every X-ray. The new system changes only the way X-ray images are stored and viewed. The pictures themselves are still produced by passing a small amount of radiation through the body. The image is captured on a reusable plate instead of a piece of transparent film that has to pass through a chemical bath. The plate is passed through a scanner that creates a computer file of the image. The plate can then be "erased" and used for another image. People who make patient X-rays like the new system because it eliminates the step of developing the film. "It’s a lot easier when you don’t have to deal with chemicals and film," said Megan Gillette, an X-ray technology student working at Providence. Doctors and nurses like digital X-rays because several people can look at the images from different locations at the same time, Baker said. "Instead of having doctors run down to the radiology department and waiting while we get the films, they can look at the X-rays on the patient’s floor (of the hospital)," he said. "It allows us to be more efficient," said radiologist Dr. Robert Sinnott. Digitized X-rays also can be sent to other sites electronically. If, for example, a patient from Southern Oregon was transported to another hospital for treatment, X-rays could be sent to the destination hospital. Physicians would have an idea of what they would be treating before they ever saw the patient. X-rays also could be transported on a compact disc and sent with the patient if electronic transmission was impossible. "It doesn’t matter where you’re practicing medicine," Baker said. "You can still treat your patient." Hospitals don’t necessarily need to have identical computer software to share X-rays. Baker said "utility" programs can be sent along with the images to hospitals that might not have compatible software. While newer medical imaging techniques such as MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) have given physicians more ways to look inside the body, X-rays still have their uses, Baker said. "They’re really great for looking at bones," he said. "That’s why X-rays are still prevalent." Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? 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