By DARLENE PRINCE

prince@crescent-news.com

CAT scans, MRIs, mammographies, X-rays. These tools of technology provide invaluable assistance to a physician who is trying to diagnose an illness or condition.

Because of a shortage of radiologists in the United States, some clinics and hospitals in larger cities are sending their CAT scans and MRIs images to be read by radiologists overseas. This practice, called teleradiology, is used occasionally by one area hospital.

One company that provides out-of-the-country teleradiology services is NightHawk Radiology Service, located in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. NightHawk contracts with licensed and certified radiologists in places such as Australia in order to have scans and films read during nighttime hours in the United States, which is daytime in Australia. Most of these teleradiology companies are now called nighthawk companies.

In this six-county area, most of the scans, mammographies, etc., are read by an in-house radiologist.

At Paulding County Hospital, chief operating officer Randy Ruge said, "They (the scans) are read on site two days a week. They are also read 24-hours, seven days a week by the Fort Wayne Radiology Group at Parkview Hospital in Fort Wayne and at the other group sites."

He said the images and scans are transported across a large-capacity, dedicated line to Fort Wayne and other sites, often to specialists in certain fields.

Kathy Boff, vice president of patient care at the Defiance Regional Medical Center, said a local radiologist on the medical staff reads the films. She said the advancements in technology allow radiologist Dr. Hassan Semaan "to look at the image and communicate with the ER staff on a patient's condition, no matter what time it is or where he is."

At Mercy Hospital of Defiance and Defiance Clinic, a spokesman said a large majority of radiological studies are read by staff radiologist James Eisenberg, MD, and consultant in radiology, John Mitchell, MD. Night Vision, a teleradiology service, is utilized from 12-7 a.m.

Eisenberg said the use of teleradiology services has become the industry standard in the United States because of diagnostic radiology's increasingly important role and the critical need for radiologists to provide quality, real-time interpretation 24 hours a day.

The clinic's primary teleradiologist formerly practiced at a hospital in the Cleveland area and has the same training and credentials as staff radiologists.

"Using this service allows us to provide quality around-the-clock service," Eisenberg said. "Our system also has a built-in procedure for quality assurance. The teleradiologist provides a preliminary reading. When the local radiologist goes back on duty, he looks at the same study and issues the final report," he added.

Dr. Michael Pole is the new medical director and full-time radiologist at the Fulton County Health Center's radiology department in Wauseon, where hospital scans are read.

Steve McCoy, the marketing director at the health center, said the center has the advanced Smart Pacs system that allows the radiologist to make notes about the scan on the margins of the film or scan.

Community Memorial Hospital in Hicksville will be making a change in its radiology department in February.

Sue Fowler, the hospital's radiology manager, said, "As of Feb. 1, we will switch from an in-house radiology reading to using the Fort Wayne Radiology Group. We will be digitizing and sending our images on a designated line to the radiology group."

At the St. Rita's Putnam County Ambulatory Care Center in Glandorf, MRIs and CAT scans are sent to St. Rita's Medical Center in Lima.

At the Henry County Hospital in Napoleon, scans and film are read by the hospital radiologist, Dr. Edmundo Somoza. A hospital representative said that when a second opinion is required, it is obtained from Dr. Steven Pomerantz, in Cincinnati.

Phil Ennen, CEO of Community Hospitals and Wellness Centers, Bryan, said most of the scans and images are read locally at the hospital by the radiologist.

"For overnight service, we occasionally use the NightHawk service out of Australia," Ennen said. "This is for a film that must be read late at night here since it is daytime there." He said the NightHawk radiologists have medical degrees and are licensed.