Radiation Reporting Tools Stalled in Uncertain Euro Markets

Growing concern for the ever-increasing radiation exposure in medical examinations has reached a fever pitch in the U.S. and has led European governments to call for patient dose reports from hospitals. Yet the effort to respond to this rising demand is severely hampered by the existing capabilities of both scanners and information systems to report radiation dose.

Furthermore, radiologists can expect only a minimum of effort on the part of industry to meet the radiation reporting challenge, judging from the lineup of systems coming out of the development pipeline.

At first glance, it seems like the cavalry is on its way to the rescue. The open-source protocol for Radiation Exposure Monitoring (REM), developed by Chicago-based Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE), has been widely adopted by radiology system vendors.

"The way forward is now clear, and all devices should support REM profile," said David Clunie, an editor of the DICOM standard and co-chair of the IHE Radiology Technical Committee, during a presentation at the IHE European Connectathon.