News

Planar unveils new console application for medical imaging

March 22, 2005

BEAVERTON, Ore. - Planar Systems, Inc. has released Dome Dashboard, a software console application that simplifies the centralized management, monitoring and control of medical imaging displays for administrators of picture archiving and communications systems, according to a news release. Xtria Healthcare Solutions division, a managed-services provider for the implementation and management of PACS, reports early success after utilizing Dome Dashboard as part of its service offerings to the Lahey Clinic. Xtria uses Planar's Dome Dashboard to centrally manage, monitor and report on the display characteristics and performance of the Lahey Clinic's 65 Dome C3i diagnostic displays and 20 Planar PX191 clinical displays located in Burlington, Lexington and Peabody, Mass. Prior to Dome Dashboard, Xtria's PACS support staff copied information such as serial numbers, software versions, white and black levels, and calibration data from each individual display to their PDAs, then carried this data back to their office PCs for data upload. Because this information can now be accessed from a central location using Dome Dashboard, Xtria's staff has gained considerable time and cost savings for managing the Lahey Clinic's portfolio of Dome and Planar displays, which are spread throughout Lahey's distributed campus. "Planar's Dome Dashboard is much simpler than other console applications I've worked with previously - I didn't even need to consult the manual to get started," said Dr. John Weiser, chief scientist at Xtria Healthcare. "Planar understands that PACS administrators need software tools that will make their jobs easier and less costly, while assuring radiologists and clinicians that their display systems are performing optimally." In conjunction with Dome CXtra software, the monitoring and calibration software included with all Dome medical imaging display systems, administrators use Dome Dashboard to set up alerts for immediate pages when a display changes in any unexpected way, such as when a display goes down, if the white level of the display changes, or if a display is out of calibration conformance. Though Dome displays are self-calibrated through Dome CXtra software, before Dome Dashboard, Xtria's staff would have to evaluate each display at the Lahey Clinic every six months to ensure they were in optimal working condition. When calibration or luminance issues arose, clinicians would often be the first to detect problems, usually during display use. With Dome Dashboard, Xtria's PACS administrator is now alerted to issues before hospital staff experience performance problems.