APEX Radiology

A Virtual Radiologist on Staff

When a patient receives a blow to the head or falls from a ladder, medical professionals often rely on the skills of a highly trained, specialized radiologist to interpret the patient’s X-rays or other images. Unfortunately, many solo practitioners, rural hospitals, and other facilities can’t afford to keep such specialized talent on staff around the clock. By assembling a team of top radiologists and an imaging solution based on the Mac, APEX Radiology is giving small and remote medical facilities, as well as major hospitals, cost-effective access to specialized radiology talent — on call, 24 hours a day.

Wade Rome was among the first to realize the potential of teleradiology: where a patient’s radiographic images along with consultative text are transmitted electronically from one location to another. He’s now the President of APEX Radiology, Inc., the largest private teleradiology practice in the U.S. Using over a hundred Power Macintosh computers placed in hospitals, diagnostic centers, and mobile medical facilities across the U.S., patients’ injuries can be digitally imaged and analyzed by a team of world-class radiology specialists.

“The Mac and AppleScript have helped us achieve unparalleled efficiency and cost effective image-processing.”

— Wade Rome, President, APEX Radiology, Inc.

Within as little as 30 minutes, a trained APEX radiologist and a local physician can begin discussing diagnosis and treatment options for the patient, while simultaneously reviewing a full report of the patient’s case on a secure website. They utilize reports in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), along with high-resolution images of the patient’s injury with annotations pointing out areas of concern.

From Ultrasound to PET

Hospitals, solo medical practitioners, mobile radiology service providers, and others can take advantage of APEX’s teleradiology services for a range of applications, beyond trauma cases. APEX uses the Mac to acquire and transmit any kind of medical image, including Ultrasound, Computed Axial Tomography (CT), X-rays, Positron Emission Tomography (PET), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), and Nuclear Medicine studies. “Consolidation in the health care industry has put pressure on medical providers to reduce costs,” explains Rome. “Many organizations cannot afford to keep radiology specialists on staff full time. By working with APEX, organizations gain access to subspecialty trained radiologists whenever they need them.”

Fully Automated Workflow

APEX’s staff of nearly 30 highly trained professionals and certified radiologists is only half of the equation. An innovative image-processing solution built around the Mac is the other. APEX leases Power Macintosh workstations to medical facilities that use its services. Each Mac comes equipped with a film scanner and the ability to link directly to digital medical imaging equipment such as Computed Tomography machines (CTs). DesAcc’s Digital Jacket software allows images in DICOM (Digital Image Communications in Medicine) format to be transferred to the Power Macintosh. From there, the image is sent over the Internet to a Power Mac server farm at APEX for processing. Custom AppleScripts spread the task across multiple machines to speed processing. This is critical since APEX processes over 50,000 patient images each month.

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