Digital X-ray images created by iGuana from your analog X-ray film are fully DICOM compliant and can be imported into any PACS / RIS system. With our X-ray scanning services, you can benefit from easier, faster access to all your X-ray images, streamlined workflow, reduced storage requirements, significantly lower operational costs, ensure better patient outcomes and guarantee legal compliance.

Superior Equipment & Technology

We use professional, medical grade, diagnostic quality scanners to digitize your X-rays. All X-ray film scanners and software used in this process meet and exceed the requirements for digitizing to DICOM images in order to produce the best quality, highest resolution digital images possible. Our scanners can digitize various sizes of X-ray film up to 355,6mm x 889mm and can scan a chest X-ray in just 7 seconds. Equipped with superior optical resolution of up to 600 dpi, high optical density of 4.0 Dmax and 16-bit grayscale, they ensure that each scan captures a wide range of gray tones and all the details presenting in any area of the film, thus offering excellent quality to medical professionals.

In addition, we use our own proprietary technology to control, streamline and automate all our scanning operations, from A to Z – ScanFactory Resource Planning (SRP). It was developed entirely in-house by our expert personnel. Its main purpose is to reduce human intervention to an absolute minimum and remove the risk of human error. This highly sophisticated, one-of-a-kind technology offers complete traceability and provides full real-time reporting functionality.

Customer Portal

The Customer Portal allows you to search for and consult the status of every X-ray film processed by ScanFactory at any point in time (e.g. In Transport, in Scanning, etc.). The Portal also makes it possible to make requests for on-demand or urgent scanning (delivered within 1 hour maximum) or physical delivery of a particular X-ray, and view full history of such requests. All information and metadata about your X-ray film, including its exact physical location, are stored in the SRP database and can be retrieved on-demand.

X-ray Scanning Process

All stages of the X-ray scanning process are controlled entirely by our SRP, including quality control, human resource allocation and our high-end X-ray scanners (X-ray digitizers). It is a clear and fully transparent step-by-step process that guarantees superior quality and full confidentiality:

Pick-up, Transport & Intake at Our Facilities

We pick up X-rays from you and prepare them for transport to our facilities. Our personnel arrive at your site, register every single X-ray in SRP, put them in specially designed archive boxes, assign a unique barcode to each box, and stack them on sealed europallets. The moment an X-ray film is registered, iGuana and your staff can trace the exact physical location of each box and the processing stage of each individual X-ray in real time via the SRP. Sealed europallets containing your X-rays are then transported in a sealed vehicle to the iGuana facility. All transports are dedicated, meaning that no items other than your X-rays are transported at any one time to guarantee full confidentiality and security. When your registered X-rays arrive at iGuana and the integrity of all seals is confirmed, we scan barcodes on every single box and assign each box a unique location in our warehouse. This information is automatically stored in our SRP system.

Preparation & Scanning

We prepare your X-rays for scanning along strict guidelines. All X-ray films are scanned according to scanner settings pre-defined in the SRP system for your specific project. Scanning is controlled entirely by the SRP system and the risk of human error is essentially reduced to zero. Image quality is guaranteed by sophisticated scanner hardware and technology (see Quality Control & Image Enhancement).

Indexing 

After X-ray scanning is complete, we either automatically extract or manually index data using double-keying methods. Automated and manual verification checks are then performed to ensure data accuracy. All images and their metadata (image size, dpi, compression, and many other image-related data) are stored directly in the SRP database. This give us virtually unlimited flexibility in choosing image export formats and metadata formats for delivery to your organization.

Quality Control & Image Enhancement

A set of clearly defined procedures governs every single step of our X-ray scanning operations, from Pick-up to Metadata & Image Delivery. Every action taken in relation to your X-ray films is tracked in the SRP system in real time. Our X-ray scanners have built-in image quality control features, such as auto-crop, auto-deskew, superior optical resolution, high optical density, and others to ensure best possible quality for your images. The Image Enhancement module in our SRP system utilizes a 16-core server dedicated exclusively to post-scan image processing and performs a series of complex algorithmic image enhancement tasks. In addition to numerous manual quality checks, our Quality Supervisor is also automatically notified by the SRP of any quality issues detected by SRP’s sophisticated quality control algorithms.

Last but not least, our employees are trained to apply ISO 9001 Quality Management principles in all their work.

Metadata & Image Delivery

Delivery of images and metadata can be done via a Direct File Transfer method (VPN) or External Storage Device method (e.g. encrypted Hard Disk). You decide which option suits you best. Delivery is a fully automated process governed entirely by SRP. During scanning, all scanned images and metadata are stored directly in the SRP database. These images and metadata are automatically exported from SRP without any human intervention whatsoever. As a result, you have virtually unlimited flexibility in choosing your preferred image and metadata file formats including (but not limited to):

• DICOM (ready for import into any PACS / RIS system)
• JPEG, TIFF, PDF & PDF/A
• Structural metadata XML or CSV file
• Import format for your document management software

Certified Destruction

All physical X-rays are kept in quarantine (sealed storage) for a standard period of 1 month from the day scanned images and metadata are delivered to you. This gives you the opportunity to perform your own quality control. Upon expiration of the quarantine period and your express approval, all quarantined X-ray films are subjected to secure confidential destruction using Security Level P3, DIN 66399 standard. Since X-ray films contain silver and plastic, these components are separated during the destruction process and are properly recycled to protect people and environment. Once physical films are destroyed, all scanned images and metadata are erased from our SRP system. You receive a confidential destruction certificate.