The American Academy of Ophthalmology is urging ophthalmic imaging device manufacturers to standardise image formats to comply with the Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) standard. DICOM is recognised in the United States and throughout the world as the medical imaging standard.
The AAO says that widespread adoption of a uniform standard can revolutionise ophthalmology practices by promoting more efficient patient care, enabling the creation of comprehensive datasets for research and big data analyses, and developing algorithms for machine learning and artificial intelligence. This recommendation has already been endorsed by the American Society of Retina Specialists.
Lead author Aaron Y. Lee, MD, MSCI, makes clear that the current lack of standardisation in ophthalmology is holding back progress in the profession.
“The new horizon of tools for digital health care rely on being able to interact algorithmically and extract data at scale,” said Dr. Lee in a news release. “There has been great progress with electronic health record data becoming standardised and available directly to patients, but the same has not yet happened for imaging and functional testing data that we routinely collect in our clinics.” Dr. Lee stressed that the benefit to patients would be significant. As physicians gain better access to images and reports, they can provide faster and more coordinated care, he said.
Further information available here.
Originally published on Retinal Physician here.
