The American Roentgen Ray Society has launched WomensImagingOnline. The web-based portal appears two years after the first Women's Imaging section made it into the pages of the American Journal of Roentgenology, the society's peer-reviewed publication.

The site will feature original content useful in daily practice, such as image galleries, expert commentary, physician-written articles, CME, and patient brochures, according to Dr. Marcia Javitt, chair of the portal's 50-person advisory panel. It will also feature blogs, webcasts, interactive forums, a job board, buyer guides, and other services.

Radiologists, residents, patients, technologists, nurses, administrators, and members of the imaging industry can use the site as a resource for all of women's imaging, Javitt said.

"This is not only an academic resource, but also a valuable toolkit for everyday practice. This website represents a public service, a forum for research, a platform for contacts in industry, and a guide for practice management," she said.

WomensImagingOnline is initially geared toward physicians. But patients will also get access to content not easily accessible through other media outlets, said ARRS e-communities manager Jason Ocker.

Radiologists, who do not generally interact with patients, will have a chance to educate themselves and patients through a public source. Exclusive women's imaging content that can benefit radiologists includes, for instance, the electronic exhibit released at the 2007 ARRS meeting in May, Ocker said. And patients, who increasingly look on their own for information about medical conditions, their diagnosis, and the procedures used to treat them, will gain access to the content free of charge.

"This is a free site, so patients would be able to access it whenever they need to. Eventually, we will have a patient's resource section where they would get the best information," he said.

Radiologists make up about 90% of the contributing staff. The site covers every imaging modality, many conditions, and several imaging subspecialties that deal with them.

"Physicians are happy that women's imaging is getting a more prominent place as opposed to being spread all around a million different sources. They also like the idea of how this could become ‘the' community for women's imaging. Anything that you want can be found here," Ocker said.

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