DIGITIZING FILM
Can you provide a quick lesson on the use of your digitizer?
Your new AMS Medical Film Digitizer works like a fax machine, with a few small changes. The basic concept is that film is scanned, digitized and the digital information is sent across a network to a receiver, which displays the image. A fax machine scans, digitizes, sends and displays (prints) the image.
As with a fax machine, you need to load the film the proper way. Depending on the manufacturer of your digitizer, you may load the film upside down and backwards to provide the correct orientation at the doctor's review station. On Vidar digitizers you may load all images for a single patient (regardless of size and up to 25 images). Be sure to load images in front of the blue bar (allowing the digitizer to lift the last image and move it behind the blue bar for feeding).
Once the images are loaded, you will need to fill in the appropriate information. Simply point to the dark grey box with the mouse and click the left button. When the blinking vertical line appears, type the appropriate information. All displayed information can be changed, but typically you will need to enter only the patient name, patient ID, referring doctor and reason for the study.
Once the film is loaded and the information is entered, select the destination(s) and press the Scan and Send button on the screen (left click on the mouse). The digitizer will feed each film and when done will transmit the entire set. You do not need to wait around for the films to be scanned and sent. It will happen automatically and alert you if there is a problem.
Question: Should we have antivirus software running on our workstations?
We deliver our Catella workstations with an antivirus software package installed. We have tested this package for compatibility with the other software and therefore can only recommend the use of this package. This product can be set to automatically update, but that sometimes causes problems. When new versions of the antivirus software become available, we test them again. Contact AMS for more information.
Do CR or other digitized images require calibration for the measure function?
CR systems typically send the needed calibration information with the images in the DICOM record. This means that manual calibration is not needed when viewing these images and using the measure function. Check with your CR supplier for their equipment's specifications.
Digitized images need manual calibration as this information is not available from the film.
moved my scanner and it no longer works. The symptom is that the images are scanned, but the program dies at the end of the scanning. What could be the issue?
This is a classic Scanner problem. The program needs to inspect the image on the screen to determine the progress of the scans. If the screen configuration is changed, it can no longer find what it is looking for in the proper places. The most common reason for this is that the screen resolution has been changed from 800 * 600 to something else. Changing the resolution back to 800 * 600 should solve this problem.
In another example, someone might move the Windows Task Bar from the bottom to the top of the screen, changing the effective screen size for the scanner program. The solution would be to reposition (or turn off) the task bar and re-start the scanner program.
The images from my digitizer look bad. What could be the cause?
We have found that the most common cause is that someone has changed the Twain settings on the digitizer. We now password protect this feature. If your images look poor, this is the first thing to check. Make sure that the twain module is set on 12 bit and 150 dpi.
Here's another tip: Recalibrate the digitizer.
Here's another tip: Before spending a lot of time on this issue, digitize an image from another modality. Send the image to the workstation and review the quality. This will help isolate the issue to the digitizer or to the modality.
Back to Top
|