It was September afternoon when our CCO, Philip Meier, sat down for a phone interview with Tom Smith, Chief Information Officer at Triad Radiology Associates, one of the biggest subspecialized radiology practices in the USA based in the Piedmont Triad in North Carolina. 

Triad Radiology offers a full spectrum of radiology diagnostics, providing imaging services 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year to multiple medical centres, radiology imaging centres and clinical practices throughout the USA.

Having more than 20 years of experience in the IT and radiological setting field, Tom Smith has the technical, visionary and leadership skills to be on the top of the IT department at the Triad Radiology.

"Been many times where I've looked at technology and said, Yep, well, we're never going to do that. And then I swear, six months later, we're in the middle of implementing it... This is just how quickly things are changing, not just within our organization with initiatives that come forth, but technology in general."

Tom Smith, CIO at Triad Radiology

At the Triad Radiology teleradiology setup, most radiologists are working from a remote place. Still, ensuring that the imaging report is communicated to the referring physician within 24 - 48 hours of the read. However, there has been a significant increase in the amount of radiology imaging during the last few years. Eventually, the volume of images will get to the point that it will no longer be feasible for a radiologist to examine every single image. That is where emerging imaging technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), which can scan a picture and highlight abnormalities based on diagnostic information, meet radiologists' expertise and relieve the burden on expert readers.

“A perfect example is IB Lab AI-software, KOALA. Just real quickly can analyze the x-ray and do the measurements for the radiologist.”

Tom Smith, CIO at Triad Radiology

Adding to this, sometimes there are scenarios where it is not necessary only the radiologist or patient that we are helping, using MSK-AI software but the referring physician that benefits most as the visual reports generated by IB Lab KOALA provide clear data that ordering physician can show to and share with the patient which makes their life easier, makes their job easier and ends up in overall higher writing of satisfaction for the patient because they can actually see and understand their disease report.

However, in order for all shareholders to benefit from the usage of artificial intelligence in radiology, AI software must first be seamlessly integrated into existing DICOM & PACS/RIS systems and finally trained for its use.

"The process of installation, integration and training of KOALA in our existing DICOM systems was made very simple. IB Lab worked with us all the way through to make sure we got the right annotated studies and the information that we needed in the appropriate manner. To the point, they did some custom development to ensure we were getting the right fields back. IB Lab has really been there along the way, being a great business partner, helping us get it installed and deployed and ensuring that it's working in meeting our needs."

Tom Smith, CIO at Triad Radiology

To summarize, the future of AI in medical imaging remains in the seamless integration of AI software tools into existing systems. As well as the ability of AI to save radiologists time, ensure higher patient satisfaction, and provide better service not only to radiologists but also referring physicians by transforming large amounts of data into diagnostic evidence.