Dr. Kai Haber opened a drawer in his desk at the University Medical Center radiology department to reveal a rare piece of medical history.
After carefully removing its wrapping, Haber held up a 60-year-old glass plate, a remnant of a bygone era in radiography.
A silver-chloride film emulsion covering the plate depicts the elbow of a small child — proof of just how far medical imaging has come since the 1940s.
“Not many people have seen this,” Haber said. “There are not many left.”
Thanks to advancements in digital technology, he and his team spend their days interpreting radiological images via the Arizona Telemedicine Network.
Through an association with the Arizona Telemedicine Network, the university’s teleradiology program provides specialist service to more than 20 sites. The network serves several sites in Cochise County.
From emergency CT scans to ultrasounds, the wait time for results has gone from days or weeks to minutes.
In Arizona, the practice of teleradiology began with a pilot program in Globe in 1997.
Soon, UMC signed a contract with the Navajo Nation in 2003.
As the program grew, other hospitals followed suit. Haber said that at one point, the university was the largest U.S. teleradiology provider.
The importance of speed is compounded by the fact that many cases seen in rural areas are advanced.
“We see things that you ordinarily don’t see because people in urban areas come in to the doctor way before they get to this stage of the disease,” Haber said.
Today, the workstation continues to evolve.
Mobile devices such as the iPad and Kindle have made waves in the publishing world and are making their way into hospitals.
Haber added that there is even the potential for viewing images over mobile phones.
Haber said the tele-radiology team is able to offer residents of some of the most remote areas of Arizona the same radiology emergency service provided at urban hospitals.
The Herald