SECTRA

"Our industry floats on innovation. If we stopped innovating, we would no longer fulfil our mission of 'improving efficiency in healthcare'." Speaking is Rein Varkevisser, manager Learning & Development at Sectra in Almere. Sectra is a global player in Medical Imaging IT. The company offers an enterprise imaging solution consisting of PACS for image-oriented healthcare departments such as radiology, pathology, orthopaedics and cardiology.

Sectra is the market leader in image management within radiology in the Netherlands. "With our software, we manage the complex workflow of healthcare professionals," says Erwin Krikken, solution specialist. "A CT scan of the abdomen can easily consist of three to four thousand images. Our software guarantees secure storage of the images and ensures that the radiologist keeps an overview of all diagnostic imaging.'' Sectra's image management software is also widely used in the pathology department, for example. "The advantage is that images can be shared easily and quickly with fellow healthcare providers such as radiologists or other specialists. This improves cooperation, both inside and outside the
organisation."

Enterprise Imaging

Another advantage is that image management software is fully customisable to the needs of the organisation and can be used for the entire hospital. "We call this Enterprise Imaging," Varkevisser explains. "And because our solution integrates seamlessly with other IT systems, the complete patient record is accessible anytime, anywhere. Multiple doctors can log in simultaneously and review and discuss the imagery together. This reduces operational costs and leads to higher productivity. And thus also improves patient care."

Best ICT project in Healthcare

Since 2019, the image management system Sectra PACS has also been used for population screening for breast cancer in the Netherlands. Before then, a courier service drove daily past all 55 (mobile) screening centres to bring DVDs with mammograms to a central location. A time-consuming and inefficient process, which came to an end thanks to the BK2020 Program, a collaboration program between Sectra, FSB, Topicus, RAM-IT and Tromp.

Varkevisser: "Breast images are now stored in the Sectra PACS and sent directly to the switchboard via a dual 4G connection. From then on, the radiologist has access to the images anytime, anywhere." As a result, screening work has become significantly more efficient. Processing speed has increased and turnaround times have been reduced. The project was nominated by the Computable Awards 2019 jury in the Best ICT Project in Healthcare category.

Artificial Intelligence

One promising technological development in healthcare is Artificial Intelligence (AI). "We have been serious about applying and implementing artificial intelligence in our software for a few years now," says Krikken. "With the help of algorithms, diseases can be detected faster, more accurately or with fewer errors. A platform is offered from Sectra to simplify and streamline the linking of AI applications. This enables the end user to work from a single system, but still be able to use different AI applications. In this way, the radiologist of the future, for example, will be able to make even more accurate diagnoses by collaborating with the techniques being developed today and tomorrow."