MRI on Disk
by Adrian Hanft, (6 comments)
Recently my wife and I were in a doctor’s office waiting for the doctor to come and share with us the results of an MRI. He came in, placed a cd in the PC and we watched as he scrolled through the images from the MRI. Despite the obvious stress of the situation, I was captivated by the images on screen. The controls let you scroll through layer after layer as we traveled up and down my wife’s spine. The doctor pointed out the landmarks and explained the landscape inside the human body. It was a fascinating visual journey. As we were leaving the office, I asked the doctor if his cd would work on an ordinary PC. To my surprise, he said that all I had to do was ask for another cd, and I could view the MRI on my PC at home. Since the results of an MRI are routinely reviewed by many doctors, asking for a copy of your own MRI isn’t an unusual request.
When I got our copy of the CD, it worked just fine on my PC. The disk automatically opened a program called eFilmLite. The interface was the same that we saw in the doctor’s office, and by trial and error, I was able to scroll through the same images that the doctor showed us. The designer in me wanted to tweak the interface a little, but overall the navigation was actually pretty well designed. After spending over $1000 on an MRI, it is nice to see that at least something is free and maybe even a little fun.
Comments (6)
DC1974 said:
You’re lucky. As someone who gets MRIs on an annual basis, I’ve found that little CD can cost me a buddle if I want it for myself. (It seems that to most hospitals YOUR MRI results are actually the PROPERTY of the hospital.) Plus, many of my doctors out here in DC, HATE the looking at the on screen images and much prefer the films. This isn’t totally surprising considering the clarity (or lack there of) of most PC monitors found at the doctor’s office.
Posted on August 26, 2005
Kyle said:
DC1974, I can understand why doctors wouldn’t like to look at the screen when they’re used to seeing film. I calibrate monitors regularly, and can’t stand the waaay overbrighht, low-contrast monitors my local photo studio makes me use to review the high-quality pictures right after my daughter poses for them.
When reading MRIs, is it important to see how dark or light an area is, or is it sufficient to seee how dark or light the area is in comparison to surrounding areas? I would guess that the lightboxes used for viewing MRI films where all about the same brightness, whereas monitors can be all over the place.
Adrian, this is interesting. I had to read your whole post before getting my coffee. Back to the MRI on CD, can you zoom in pretty far?
Posted on August 26, 2005
Adrian said:
I was able to zoom in on the images, but I wasn’t getting much more detail. The resolution is limited. I found the image files on the disk, but photoshop wouldn’t open them. They weren’t jpg’s anyway. I suppose that looking at the film would give the doctors much more detail.
That is interesting that the hospitals consider your MRI to be their property. I guess it is kind of like photo studios not letting you scan their prints for reproductions. They took the photos, so they think they have the rights to them.
Posted on August 26, 2005
Bennett said:
The color calibration issue came to my mind as well. It sounds like doctors view the film first and then use the CD to show the patient. Is this correct? If doctors only viewed the images on screen, that would take correct calibration to a whole new level.
Posted on August 26, 2005
Jake said:
Wow, that sounds like it is some pretty sweet technology. It makes sense that they would use the same technology that we use on a daily basis
It goes along with the use of handheld devices instead of charts. They would scan in your bar code and your data is transfered to their handheld. No more missed info.
It’s amazing how technology can help us..
Posted on August 27, 2005
Michelle Callahan said:
Recently requested a copy of my shoulder MRI from my orthopedic surgeon (complete rotator cuff tear requiring surgery & an equine graft insertion). Was told that he had only the original dvd, but that I could borrow it for viewing & transfer. My question: With my Windows XP, am I able to simply insert the CD & the images will appear, or do I need a special program installed? Also, I can burn CD’s, so might I do the same with this one? If not, how do I go about making a copy without paying the MRI examiner a small fortune.
Thanks for your help!
Posted on September 19, 2008