St. Petersburg and Atlanta Trade CAT Scans With Teleradiology Program

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Through the use of two international phone lines, physicians in St. Petersburg, Russia and Atlanta, Georgia can simultaneously view electronic images such as CAT scans, MRIs and ultrasounds on computers thousands of miles apart.

Since 1994, partners from the two cities have used a teleradiology software program called WinRad that allows a two-way exchange of clinical images. Physicians on either end of the connection can make notes about an image with the help of a mouse-driven arrow that is visible on both computer screens at once.

Sergei Lapekin, MD, of St. Petersburg Medical University, began using WinRad after he visited Georgia Baptist Medical Center to sharpen his skills in reading CAT scans. The software program, donated by the Atlanta partners, enabled him to keep his training up-to-date by consulting on case studies with Georgia Baptist radiologist Daniel Schwartzberg. Over the years, St. Petersburg partners have found the program helpful in exchanging information among Russian colleagues as well.

"In the beginning, we did a fair amount of [consulting via WinRad], and what happened is that we found that the doctors were getting very good at their own CT interpretations," Schwartzberg told the Cable News Network (CNN) during a televised report on the partnership's use of WinRad.

"It is really very useful," added Lapekin. "It allows the distance separating doctors to disappear."

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