From OncoLog, November-December 2012, Vol. 57, Nos. 11-12
New Software May Provide a Standardized Reporting System for Diagnostic Radiologists
By Luanne Jorewicz
Radiologists
today still report the results of patient imaging examinations in a
manner similar to that which has been used for more than 100 years—by
providing narrative descriptions that vary in content and clarity.
In response to this problem, David J. Vining, M.D., a professor in the
Department of Diagnostic Radiology and the medical director of the
Image Processing and Visualization Laboratory at The University of
Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, has developed a software system,
called ViSion, which allows radiologists to create easy-to-use
multimedia structured reports.
“We’re an image-centric field,” Dr. Vining said, “and we need to use
images to our advantage.” He said ViSion works in a manner similar to
Facebook—just as Facebook allows users to tag images with the names of
people and events, ViSion enables radiologists to tag key radiology
images with anatomy and pathology terms as well as the narrative
descriptions dictated by the radiologists. The software then assembles
these data into a graphical representation of a patient with the key
images linked to anatomical sites.
In addition, according to Dr. Vining, “ViSion’s unique graphical
display allows a patient’s entire radiographic history to be viewed in
a single image.” The software provides a means to link imaging findings
to prior exams in order to generate disease timelines for each site of
disease. This allows physicians to watch the progression of disease
through changing images while listening to the radiologist’s assessment
of each finding. The software also automates the use of Response
Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors by enabling physicians to generate
graphs showing tumor progression or response to therapy.
ViSion’s ability to capture and efficiently manage radiologic
information and its use of standardized medical terminology could help
physicians reduce errors and make more accurate diagnoses and treatment
decisions. Dr. Vining’s software development team has included a
feature that enables automatic notification of critical results with
return receipt verification, providing a means for radiologists to
effectively communicate important results to referring physicians and
to track the results of those interactions. Dr. Vining’s team has
translated ViSion’s standardized medical terminology into several
languages, including Arabic, Portuguese, Spanish, and French, thus
enabling the automatic translation of radiology reports.
ViSion interfaces with any image display workstation or picture
archiving and communication system that uses a Microsoft operating
system, thus making it widely accessible.
Clinical trials are ongoing, and ViSion is scheduled to become
commercially available in 2013. Continued development involves
expanding the software’s medical lexicon so that ViSion can be applied
to other image-based fields (e.g., pathology, endoscopy, dermatology)
and creating applications such as data mining and automatic coding for
billing purposes.
Dr. Vining’s team is also working on advances such as integrating an
eye-tracking system that would monitor the eye movements of
radiologists to capture screen locations as they report imaging
findings, thus eliminating the need for manual interaction with a
computer mouse and keyboard. With features like these, Dr. Vining
believes that ViSion can fill the need for standardized radiology
structured reporting.
For more information, call Dr. David Vining at 713-792-3437.
TOPHome/Current Issue | Previous Issues | Articles by Topic | Patient Education
About Oncolog | Contact OncoLog | Sign Up for E-mail Alerts
©2013 The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
1515 Holcombe Blvd., Houston, TX 77030
1-877-MDA-6789 (USA) / 1-713-792-3245
Patient Referral Legal Statements Privacy Policy