The benefits of open source software to medicine were celebrated at the closing session of the SCAR meeting Sunday. "Open source is not socialism," said Stephen G. Langer, Ph.D., of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. Rather, it's a concept of More »

Events of last August -- when three widespread infestations of computer worms attacked Windows-based systems -- illustrated the vulnerabilities of many medical applications, including PACS. The pressing need for software patches was also revealed. Yet More »

In the spirit of the book "Baseball for Brain Surgeons and Other Fans," by Tim McCarver, Dr. David Channin gave a SCAR University pitch Saturday morning titled "Storage for Radiologists and Other Fans." First, Channin said radiologists don't need to More »

The general agreement that quality assurance is essential to the production of diagnostic-quality digital images lays a foundation for inclusion of QA specialists on employee rosters. "It is time to establish and implement functioning QA specialists in More »

Less is more when it comes to user interface devices for radiologists. Fast scrolling speeds, ease of programmability, and ease of use propelled the five-button mouse past newer, more sophisticated devices, according to Pennsylvania researchers who tried More »

The largest implementation of an electronic referral system within the U.K. has been successfully accomplished, a large step toward satisfying the U.K. government's mandate that all clinician referrals be e-booked by next year, according to a scientific More »

The phone rings in the PACS support center -- an irate user wonders why the workstation is so slow this morning. The PACS administrator has already failed, a SCAR University Productivity and Workflow audience was told Saturday morning. It's a question More »

Contrary to studies in the current literature and accepted practice, the 2D JPEG2000 compression standard may not provide acceptable compression for the thinnest CT slices that are being produced today. The proposed 3D JPEG2000 compression standard More »

While digital imaging management through PACS is an accepted technology in radiology, it remains a foreign concept in other areas of medicine, and vendors may have struggles ahead as they try to expand into new fields. Those struggles were outlined More »

Physicians from a variety of specialties show a strong preference for structured radiology reports that are enhanced with embedded images, according to a study presented at the SCAR meeting Thursday. The results, while not entirely surprising, highlight More »