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The American College of Rheumatology is billing its new online image bank as the “most comprehensive online collection of rheumatology-related images,” running the alphabet from avascular necrosis to vasculitis.
The collection includes more than 1,500 clinical, pathological, and radiologic images of both common and rare rheumatic disorders. The primary purpose of the image bank is as a teaching tool. “It's a great teaching tool for people training in rheumatology,” said Dr. Alan Baer, chair of the ACR's Audiovisual Aids Subcommittee, which is the arm of ACR that oversaw the development of the image bank.
In addition to their usefulness in training the next generation of rheumatologists, the images can also be used when rheumatologists “go out into the community to give talks to their colleagues or laypeople.”
The images are arranged in sections by type of disorder—soft-tissue rheumatic syndromes, for example. Within a section, images are presented alphabetically by condition.
The image bank is the descendant of the college's slide collection, which got its start in 1958 with a collection of pathology slides. The collection has been revised and supplemented several times since then. “For many years, it was a 35-mm collection. But within the past decade, it became a CD-ROM collection,” said Dr. Baer, who is both chief of rheumatology and director of the Johns Hopkins University Clinical Practice, both at Good Samaritan Hospital, Baltimore. “For a number of years, we have recognized the need to put the image bank online and make it Internet accessible. That's what we've accomplished in the last year.”
Certainly it's easy enough to find rheumatology images through search engines, such as Google. However, the committee makes “a very concerted effort to ensure that these are top-quality images that are carefully annotated.” In fact, the images and any accompanying material are carefully scrutinized for accuracy, and additional information may be requested.
“It's a very reliable source of images,” said Dr. Baer.
Over the years, the collection has grown from pathology, histology, clinical photos, and x-rays to include newer imaging modalities such as MRI, CT, and sonography.
Dr. Baer hopes to expand the online collection to include video in the future. “We want to move to some of the new imaging formats.”
Video “opens up a whole new arena for us.” For example, “you could watch someone examine a certain joint or watch procedures being performed.”
Video would be particularly useful for including ultrasound imaging in the collection.
Ultrasound is dynamic by nature and it's hard to capture the diagnostic process with a static image, he noted.
“This is a great opportunity to create a whole new type of educational tool,” said Dr. Baer.
The image bank can be found at www.rheumatology.org
These images from a patient with Wegener's granulomatosis illustrate what the ACR has on offer.
Source American College of Rheumatology Image Bank
The American College of Rheumatology is billing its new online image bank as the “most comprehensive online collection of rheumatology-related images,” running the alphabet from avascular necrosis to vasculitis.
The collection includes more than 1,500 clinical, pathological, and radiologic images of both common and rare rheumatic disorders. The primary purpose of the image bank is as a teaching tool. “It's a great teaching tool for people training in rheumatology,” said Dr. Alan Baer, chair of the ACR's Audiovisual Aids Subcommittee, which is the arm of ACR that oversaw the development of the image bank.
In addition to their usefulness in training the next generation of rheumatologists, the images can also be used when rheumatologists “go out into the community to give talks to their colleagues or laypeople.”
The images are arranged in sections by type of disorder—soft-tissue rheumatic syndromes, for example. Within a section, images are presented alphabetically by condition.
The image bank is the descendant of the college's slide collection, which got its start in 1958 with a collection of pathology slides. The collection has been revised and supplemented several times since then. “For many years, it was a 35-mm collection. But within the past decade, it became a CD-ROM collection,” said Dr. Baer, who is both chief of rheumatology and director of the Johns Hopkins University Clinical Practice, both at Good Samaritan Hospital, Baltimore. “For a number of years, we have recognized the need to put the image bank online and make it Internet accessible. That's what we've accomplished in the last year.”
Certainly it's easy enough to find rheumatology images through search engines, such as Google. However, the committee makes “a very concerted effort to ensure that these are top-quality images that are carefully annotated.” In fact, the images and any accompanying material are carefully scrutinized for accuracy, and additional information may be requested.
“It's a very reliable source of images,” said Dr. Baer.
Over the years, the collection has grown from pathology, histology, clinical photos, and x-rays to include newer imaging modalities such as MRI, CT, and sonography.
Dr. Baer hopes to expand the online collection to include video in the future. “We want to move to some of the new imaging formats.”
Video “opens up a whole new arena for us.” For example, “you could watch someone examine a certain joint or watch procedures being performed.”
Video would be particularly useful for including ultrasound imaging in the collection.
Ultrasound is dynamic by nature and it's hard to capture the diagnostic process with a static image, he noted.
“This is a great opportunity to create a whole new type of educational tool,” said Dr. Baer.
The image bank can be found at www.rheumatology.org
These images from a patient with Wegener's granulomatosis illustrate what the ACR has on offer.
Source American College of Rheumatology Image Bank
The American College of Rheumatology is billing its new online image bank as the “most comprehensive online collection of rheumatology-related images,” running the alphabet from avascular necrosis to vasculitis.
The collection includes more than 1,500 clinical, pathological, and radiologic images of both common and rare rheumatic disorders. The primary purpose of the image bank is as a teaching tool. “It's a great teaching tool for people training in rheumatology,” said Dr. Alan Baer, chair of the ACR's Audiovisual Aids Subcommittee, which is the arm of ACR that oversaw the development of the image bank.
In addition to their usefulness in training the next generation of rheumatologists, the images can also be used when rheumatologists “go out into the community to give talks to their colleagues or laypeople.”
The images are arranged in sections by type of disorder—soft-tissue rheumatic syndromes, for example. Within a section, images are presented alphabetically by condition.
The image bank is the descendant of the college's slide collection, which got its start in 1958 with a collection of pathology slides. The collection has been revised and supplemented several times since then. “For many years, it was a 35-mm collection. But within the past decade, it became a CD-ROM collection,” said Dr. Baer, who is both chief of rheumatology and director of the Johns Hopkins University Clinical Practice, both at Good Samaritan Hospital, Baltimore. “For a number of years, we have recognized the need to put the image bank online and make it Internet accessible. That's what we've accomplished in the last year.”
Certainly it's easy enough to find rheumatology images through search engines, such as Google. However, the committee makes “a very concerted effort to ensure that these are top-quality images that are carefully annotated.” In fact, the images and any accompanying material are carefully scrutinized for accuracy, and additional information may be requested.
“It's a very reliable source of images,” said Dr. Baer.
Over the years, the collection has grown from pathology, histology, clinical photos, and x-rays to include newer imaging modalities such as MRI, CT, and sonography.
Dr. Baer hopes to expand the online collection to include video in the future. “We want to move to some of the new imaging formats.”
Video “opens up a whole new arena for us.” For example, “you could watch someone examine a certain joint or watch procedures being performed.”
Video would be particularly useful for including ultrasound imaging in the collection.
Ultrasound is dynamic by nature and it's hard to capture the diagnostic process with a static image, he noted.
“This is a great opportunity to create a whole new type of educational tool,” said Dr. Baer.
The image bank can be found at www.rheumatology.org
These images from a patient with Wegener's granulomatosis illustrate what the ACR has on offer.
Source American College of Rheumatology Image Bank