Nuclear medicine teleradiology in regional and rural centres of Western Australia

Abstract

We have established a nuclear medicine teleradiology service for rural and regional areas of south-west Western Australia. This study aimed to evaluate whether existing treatment models had altered in ways which were directly related to improved medical outcomes and reduced cost. Preliminary observation into musculoskeletal injury of the ankle joint included diagnosis of 10 radio-occult talar dome lesions which in some cases had not been identified until six months after the trauma. Several cases suggest that nuclear medicine provided a more timely diagnosis and actively altered treatment. Further, the potential role of radiologists as primary-care extenders in guiding appropriate investigations and defining the nature of the illness before specialist consultation may lessen the economic burden on public health care while creating economies of scale by expanding the clinical usefulness of the nuclear physician over a large rural area.