Implementation of PACS systems for better reporting turnaround times/ archival of images, higher utilisation of IT in radiology have advanced the overall functioning of radiology in India says Eshwar Chandra, General Secretary, AP State Chapter of IRIA. In conversation with Sharmila Das, ENN

In interventional radiology, there has been an increasing trend by the young radiologists to take up this specialty. Advances in better hardware and devices have made these procedures safe and simpler to perform

As they say Radiology is the cornerstone of every hospital, how do you see the role of Radiology or Radiography in modern healthcare?
Radiology has become the cornerstone of diagnosis and management in the current era of evidence based medicine and specialised healthcare and there cannot be a hospital which does not have a well equipped radiology department. Radiological methods play a key role in both in diagnosis and management in emergency care, trauma, oncology, intensive care departments, to name a few. Interventional radiology will evolve to have a greater role in offering less invasive therapies as compared to the standard surgery. Radiography will increasingly become digital and we may not see the current X ray film cassette based systems in the near future.

As a secretary of Indian Radiology & Imaging Association, how do you think the role of Indian Radiology & Imaging Association (IRIA) is? What are the core areas of radiology IRIA caters to?
IRIA is a non profitable organisation of qualified radiologists whose main role is to protect and preserve the interests of the members. IRIA caters to the young radiologists/post graduates need of education by conducting regular monthly scientific programmes, annual continuing medical education programs (CMEs), guest lectures by visiting faculty etc. IRIA also assists governmental and nongovernmental organisations in matters pertaining to radiology in policymaking and implementation. IRIA is also active in the community in organising health camps and disseminating radiology information to both clinicians and lay public.

Implementation of PACS systems for better reporting turnaround times/archival of images, higher utilisation of IT in radiology including paperless/filmless departments, speech recognition systems for report generation, increasing use of handheld devices to view and report radiology images in the emergency setting are some advances

In todays era, there have been a lot of technology advancements happening in Radiology like 4D imaging and 3 Tesla MRI. How well equipped Indian hospitals are in embracing these technologies?
Technological advancements keep taking place at a rapid pace in todays world. All most all the advances are launched in the Indian market simultaneously along with the global markets in view of the huge receptive market and excellent radiologists always ready to embrace new technology. Most high end/corporate hospitals in the cities are able to upgrade to the newer technologies and take advantage of their benefits. However their implementation in the rest of the country takes place very late or not at all due to the cost of these equipments and lack of trained personnel to perform and interpret the studies.

Apart from the above technology advancements, what other innovations have come up in this space?
The other innovations related to the increasing trend of sub specialisation in radiology which offers better radiology services, implementation of PACS systems for better reporting turnaround times/archival of images, higher utilisation of IT in radiology including paperless/filmless departments, speech recognition systems for report generation, increasing use of handheld devices to view and report radiology images in the emergency setting. Teleradiology has been a major boon for providing radiology services to smaller centres in rural and underserved areas. Teleradiology has propelled the growth of subspecialisation in radiology.

Do you think association like yours should take steps to help district hospitals to embrace the latest imaging in radiology? What is your opinion on this?
The government should encourage penetration of radiology services to the districts. Radiologists can partner with public and private players and follow the well established public private partnership model in providing advanced diagnostic services. IRIA can provide advisory role in equipment selection, regulations, logistics and teleradiology services.

According to you who are the forerunners of Indian Radiology and what are the contributions they have made?
Dr Arcot Gajraj from Chennai, Dr Kakarla Subba Rao from Hyderabad, Dr SK Sharma from Kolakata and Dr Sudarshan Aggarwal from New Delhi have been pioneers of modern radiology in India. Dr Gajraj was a great teacher and academician. Dr Kakarla Subbar Rao brought the best practices of medicine and radiology from USA to India and skillfully combined administration and radiology to be an excellent director of Nizams Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad and health advisor to the Government of Andhra Pradesh. Dr SK Sharma pioneered the entrepreneurship in radiology and was successful in the public-private partnership model in West Bengal. Dr Sudarshan Aggarwal placed India on the global radiology map by not only bringing state of the art radiology equipment to India but being an Indian brand ambassador in his interactions with numerous national and international radiology societies.

Speaking about tele-radiology and interventional radiology, what are the new technologies coming up in tele-radiology and interventional radiology?
In tele-radiology, we see lot of companies based out of India developing robust systems for local consumption as well as to the rest of the world. Cloud computing which does away local server storage and vendor neutral architecture have been major advances. Speech recognition systems with integration in to PACS servers are being increasingly used for report generation. In the future hand-held devices will be increasingly used to view the images, especially in emergency setting by both the radiologists and the clinicians. In interventional radiology, there has been an increasing trend by the young radiologists to take up this specialty. Advances in better hardware including 3D rotational angiography suites, better catheters and devices have made these procedures safe and simpler to perform.

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