Carestream Health received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to use its Vue Motion image viewer on the iPhone 4s, iPad 2, Galaxy Note and Galaxy S III. Physicians can now read exams from any location on these Apple and Samsung devices.

"They can actually diagnostically read the images from a mobile device," Ron Muscosky, worldwide product line manager at Carestream, told DOTmed News. "So instead of having to go into the office or use a diagnostic work station, they can certainly use their mobile device to be able to diagnose those images."

Carestream refers to it as a "zero-footprint viewer" because it does not require software installation. It is based on HTML 5 technology and allows access to images, orders, and reports in the PACS. It can be accessed in an electronic medical record and health information technology portal or by using a mobile device or standard computer. The viewer is launched from a web browser and requests are sent to a server, which retrieves the data and then processes and transmits the image.
A recent Carestream white paper on Vue Motion states that in order to improve productivity and minimize patient radiation exposure, health care providers' use of medical imaging must be efficient and prudent.

It claims that the foundation of this type of efficiency is technology, which offers broad access to patient reports and images, enhances communication between physicians and patients and protects patient data. By cutting down on the number of duplicate or unnecessary imaging exams, it can also cut costs and reduce radiation exposure.

Carestream's image viewer also provides tools to help users maximize the image contrast and detail sharpness.

"Sometimes if the images are not acquired with the correct technique or maybe they do not have the correct image quality, we provide those tools to allow the user to be able to adjust the images, to get them to be viewable in the manner they like," said Muscosky.

He said the process to get FDA clearance was not easy for the company and involved a lot of clinical trials.

"It was a pretty lengthy process just to make sure we had the correct data and also to prove that physicians were comfortable with being able to view images on these types of devices," he said.

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