Thanks to digital diagnostic imaging, a 10-year-old boy from the Island of Newfoundland is alive today.

The youngster needed brain surgery but was too sick to be transported to a major surgical centre to get treatment. Using real-time support through diagnostic imagery, neurosurgical and radiology experts in St. John's were able to support and direct a general surgeon hundreds of miles away in Goose Bay who performed the delicate procedure. The surgery was crucial in saving the boy's life after he suffered extensive head trauma in an ATV accident.

Digitized diagnostic images, including x-rays, ultrasounds, MRI and CT scans, allow clinicians to view patient images no matter where the test was conducted or the location of clinician. The sharing and remote access to images is enabled by Picture Archiving and Communications Systems (PACS).

Dr. Benvon Cramer, radiology professor at Memorial University and radiologist with the Janeway Child Health Centre Radiology Department, says physicians are "ever so grateful" that PACS is in the province to enable them to achieve such medical milestones.

"Patient care can move forward in leaps and bounds and we have so much more to offer now," she said.

She described another typical case, where she was contacted at her office in St. John's by a primary care physician in St. Anthony, located hundreds of miles away, near the northwestern tip of Newfoundland.

"I was sitting in my office at about 4 p.m. on a Friday and a physician rings me up concerned about a six-month-old baby," she said.

Using PACS, Cramer was instantly able to review the infant's chest x-ray, see the baby had a major congenital heart defect and needed immediate transport to an intensive care unit in St. John's.

"In days gone by, that doctor might not have been able to get that information to me and that child might have gone home for the weekend and we do not know what might have happened then," she said.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, PACS covers 98 per cent of all digital imaging exams, with the exception of some imaging methods, such as mammography, cardiology and dental images.

Richard Alvarez, president and CEO of Canada Health Infoway (Infoway), says PACS - funded in partnership with the provinces and territories - could benefit some 26 million Canadians by March 31, 2009. "PACS improves productivity for doctors, technologists and radiologists, as well as access to care. People get their diagnosis twice as fast, so treatment can begin much sooner."

An independent study commissioned by Infoway evaluated the benefits of digital diagnostic imaging and PACS supporting systems. Reduced time to treat patients, improved quality of patient management, faster diagnosis, shorter hospital stays, fewer duplicate exams and better use of financial and human resources lead the list.

Infoway, an independent, not-for-profit organization funded by the federal government, jointly invests with every province and territory to accelerate the development and adoption of electronic health record projects, including PACS. These secure systems provide the information clinicians need to better support safe care decisions and the information patients need to manage their own health.

To learn more about the difference electronic health record investments are making to the health care of Canadians, visit www.infoway-inforoute.ca.

Digital diagnostic imaging benefits: By the numbers

The benefits of digital diagnostic imaging (DI) systems to Canadians and their health care providers are making a difference every single day across the country. Personal stories attest to the human value of the $337 million Canada Health Infoway (Infoway) has invested in 22 Canadian DI and related projects to date. But when you look at the cold hard facts, the picture is even more impressive. By the end of March, 2009, Infoway estimates 79 per cent of Canadians could benefit from these systems.

How? By the numbers, the use of digitized imaging and supporting systems, known as PACS (Picture Archiving and Communications Systems) will:

1. Create up to 30 per cent improvement in radiologists' productivity. That's equivalent to the work of more than 500 radiologists in our health care system.

2. Enable up to 30 per cent improvement in technologists' productivity, which is equal to the work of another 2,900 technologists in our health care system.

3. Allow doctors to save up to 60 minutes a week in decision-making time, which translates to the work of another 500 doctors in our health care system. This time-saving works out to seven million 10-minute physician consults each year.

4. Improve exam report turnaround times by as much as 40 per cent, enabling quicker clinical decisions and more timely treatment.

5. Eliminate as many as 17,000 unnecessary patient transfers between health care facilities. As well, up to one million unnecessary exams are eliminated each year.

6. As many as 40 per cent of radiologists report using PACS to provide services to new or remote sites, improving access in remote geographic areas and populations.

7. Generate up to $1 billion a year in health system efficiencies through increased clinical productivity and reduced patient transfers, duplicate exams and film costs, once PACS is fully in place across the country.

It all adds up to improved access and quality of care for patients and greater productivity for clinicians. To learn more, visit www.infoway-inforoute.ca.

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For more information contact:

Dan Strasbourg
Canada Health Infoway
416.595.3424
dstrasbourg@infoway-inforoute.ca