An all-digital nuclear medicine department

An all-digital nuclear medicine department is described. Nuclear medicine images are acquired by a separate computer interfaced to each camera. The digital images are viewed, manipulated, and interpreted from remote display stations in an interpretation area. The interpretation is dictated into a Rapid Telephone Access System (RTAS), where the voice is digitized and stored. By dialing the patient's identification number, the referring physician can hear the interpretation over any telephone. The images are filed on large storage discs. The digital scans can be rapidly and easily accessed for later review by the use of several directory programs. This system has brought not only efficiency and cost savings, but the ability for remote viewing elsewhere in the hospital and telephone transmission of nuclear cardiology studies from community hospitals for interpretation in the digital nuclear medicine department.