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Recently, a national teleradiology network for neurosurgery, centered at the neurosurgery department in Zagreb, Croatia back in 1998 was studied to assess the advantages, if any, a teleradiology system might have on the nation.

Forum Topics

1.   Do you agree that teleradiology is making a tremendous impact in the quality of healthcare?
2.   How is teleradiology affecting the way healthcare is administered?
3.   Is there cause for concern with patient confidentiality?

The national system deployed and connected 34 CT, MRI and DSA scanners throughout 29 hospitals and reported significant improvements not only in the reduction in unnecessary travel between neurosurgical departments or to the nearest neurosurgical unit in cases where rural hospitals would otherwise not have the means for proper diagnosis, but more valuably, in effective patient care and treatment.

The study reported that only after the first three years after deployment, an estimated 400,000 km.(~250,000 miles) was eliminated from transportation necessities, as patients would otherwise have to be taken to nearby and not so nearby locations if not for the teleradiology referral centre based in Zagreb.  Furthermore, during the first seven years, 7103 expert diagnoses were submitted out of a total of 25,366 studies, providing teleradiology services 28% of the time and potentially altering life saving decisions about effective patient treatment.