Singular Health Group Ltd (ASX: SHG) has released 3Dicom Mobile for iOS and Android phones. 3Dicom Mobile is a new mobile medical image visualisation App that converts patients’ CT and MRI scans to a 3D format on their smartphone to assist with improving their understanding of their clinical condition.
SHG says low health literacy results in a 59% higher likelihood of readmission after surgery. Patient portals of existing radiology clinics and DICOM viewer Apps typically only provide the standard 2D radiological views that clinicians and radiologists train for years to be able to interpret. These raw 2D images tend to be difficult for patients to understand, are normally provided without annotations, and any practitioners’ notes that accompany these 2D images can lead to patient anxiety as they await further information or results.
3Dicom Mobile seeks to alleviate these problems with 3D volume rendering to create a 3D model of the patient’s scan that is readily recognised. 3D annotations can also be added using tools in the 3Dicom Mobile software.
The software also features a QR code system for transferring the patient’s scans using SHG’s Proprietary Medical File Transfer Protocol (MFTP). MFTP allows the sharing of medical image files between computers, mobile devices and Virtual Reality (VR) headsets. Transactions completed via the MFTP, such as consent to share images and the download of the image, are stored on a private blockchain with a complete audit trail.
Thomas Morrell, Singular Health’s Chief Technology Officer, said the 3Dicom Mobile software provides the patient with the opportunity to view annotations made by radiologists and the patient’s doctor in a three-dimensional model, providing relevant contextual information about the underlying pathology which should lead to reduced uncertainty and apprehension, and increased retention of discussions held during often brief consultations between the parties.
Using 3Dicom Mobile patients are able to immediately receive scans and view them for free, while sending an annotated scan requires users to upgrade to a premium tier of the 3Dicom Mobile software. This creates a network effect that incentivises practitioners to upgrade to 3Dicom Pro or 3Dicom Surgical.
The 3Dicom Mobile software can be integrated with medical Picture Archiving and Communications Systems (PACS), existing patient portals of radiology providers and into standard consulting workflows with 2D annotations that are familiar to clinicians and radiologists displayed in 3D to allow patients to make better informed health decisions.
The release of 3Dicom Mobile is a key milestone for Singular Health. The ability for patients and practitioners to collaborate with their medical imaging in such a way that can be easily understood and annotated, comes on the back of our recent release of MFTP which provides the ability to quickly and securely transfer the actual DICOM from practitioner-to- practitioner and practitioners-to-patients. I’m very proud of our developers’ ability to deliver complex concepts that provide better patient outcomes,” Mr Morrell said.
