The National Institutes of Health Clinical Center Digital Imaging Network, Picture Archival and Communication System, and Radiology Information System.

In this work, we describe the digital imaging network (DIN), picture archival and communication system (PACS), and radiology information system (RIS) currently being implemented at the Clinical Center, National Institutes of Health (NIH). These systems are presently in clinical operation. The DIN is a redundant meshed network designed to address gigabit density and expected high bandwidth requirements for image transfer and server aggregation.

Scoliosis examinations: organ dose and image quality with rare-earth screen-film systems.

We determined the dose to the breast and evaluated the image quality when various high-speed, rare-earth screen-film systems were used in conjunction with breast dose reduction methods in children undergoing scoliosis examinations. In addition, normalized organ dose to the breast, active bone marrow, thyroid, eyes, ovaries, and testes were measured in a pediatric anthropomorphic phantom comparing the anteroposterior and posteroanterior projections. The average measured dose to the breast was 6.

Localization of parathyroid adenomas in patients who have undergone surgery. Part II. Invasive procedures.

The authors studied intraarterial digital subtraction angiography (DSA), conventional selective angiography, parathyroid venous sampling (PVS), and intraoperative ultrasound (US) as localization procedures for parathyroid adenomas in 53 patients with proved parathyroid adenomas and previous unsuccessful parathyroid surgery. PVS had the highest overall sensitivity as a single study (80%), followed by intraoperative US (78%), angiography (60%), and DSA (49%). Invasive procedures permitted successful localization of adenomas in 41 of 43 patients studied (95%).

Localization of parathyroid adenomas in patients who have undergone surgery. Part I. Noninvasive imaging methods.

The authors evaluated computed tomography (CT), ultrasound (US), technetium/thallium scintigraphy, and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging as localization procedures in 53 patients with proved parathyroid adenomas and previous unsuccessful parathyroid surgery. CT had the highest overall sensitivity (47%), followed by US (36%) and scintigraphy (27%). There is still too little data to assess MR imaging.