What is teleradiology and how does it work?
Teleradiology lets a study acquired in one place be read by a radiologist somewhere else. For hospitals and diagnostic centres — especially outside major cities — it means access to sub-specialist expertise and faster reporting without a radiologist physically on site. Here's how it works and what it needs.
The basic workflow
An acquisition site scans the patient and the study is sent (as DICOM) into a shared archive. The study is routed to an available radiologist — ideally matched to the right sub-specialty — who opens it in a viewer, reads it, and writes a report. The signed report is returned to the origin site and stored with the images.
Read anywhere: the zero-footprint viewer
The key enabler is a zero-footprint viewer that runs in a browser, so radiologists can read from any location without installing software. Combined with the underlying PACS and DICOM archive, one reading room effectively becomes a network.
Why hospitals use it
Teleradiology addresses several real problems:
- Access to sub-specialist readers a single site couldn't staff
- Faster turnaround, including after-hours and STAT coverage
- Coverage for remote or smaller centres
- Better utilisation of scarce radiologist time across sites
What to require
A sound teleradiology setup needs secure, role-based access; reliable routing and priority handling; structured reporting; and a full audit trail across the distributed workflow — all built on a proper PACS/DICOM foundation rather than ad-hoc file sharing.