DIGITAL NUCLEAR MEDICINE IMAGES ARE OFTEN RECORDED ON SHEET FILM USING A VIDEO IMAGER CONNECTED TO THE COMPUTER'S VIDEO DISPLAY.

DIGITAL NUCLEAR MEDICINE IMAGES ARE OFTEN RECORDED ON SHEET FILM USING A VIDEO IMAGER CONNECTED TO THE COMPUTER'S VIDEO DISPLAY. MANY OF THE FILMS TAKEN ARE FOR THE PURPOSE OF DOCUMENTING RESULTS AND NOT FOR THE PURPOSE OF READING IMAGES AND CONTAIN TEXT AND GRAPHICS AS WELL AS IMAGES. THECOMPUTER-CONTROLLED LASER PRINTER IS WELL ESTABLISHED AS AN EXCELLENT DEVICE FOR RECORDING TEXT AND GRAPHICS. THIS PROJECT WILL STUDY THE FEASIBILITY OF USE OF THE LASER PRINTER TO PRODUCE PATIENT REPORTS CONTAINING NUCLEAR MEDICINE IMAGES AS WELL AS TEXT AND GRAPHICS, AT A COST OF LESS THAN 4% THE COST OF THE FILM. IF THE IMAGE QUALITY IS ADEQUATE FOR PHYSICIAN ACCEPTANCE, AND IF THE TIME TO PRODUCE THE REPORT IS LESS THAN THE TIME TO PRODUCE A FILM, THE FEASIBILITY OF THIS METHOD OF REPORT GENERATION WILL BE ESTABLISHED. IN ADDITION TO THE SAVINGS IN FILM COSTS, A LASER PRINTER IS SUBSTANTIALLY LESS COSTLY THAN A VIDEO FILMIMAGER AND DEVELOPING EQUIPMENT.