August 7, 2012 — ClearCanvas Inc. announced the release of two new workstation products designed to assist with image sharing. ClearCanvas ShareAgent is a routing application that allows healthcare professionals to transfer medical images to any DICOM (digital imaging and communications in medicine)-enabled device, and ClearCanvas ShareStation is a comprehensive mini-PACS (picture archiving and communications system) solution. Both products are based on ClearCanvas' workstation development platform and operate on standard computer hardware.
ClearCanvas ShareAgent seamlessly blends the capabilities of a basic diagnostic workstation with routing capabilities normally found in a complete PACS. Designed for distributed imaging centers where diagnostic images are captured at one facility, yet reported or archived at another, the system allows for fast and secure transmission of health information.
ShareAgent can also be implemented as a basic quality assurance (QA) workstation for technologists and radiologists to review patient studies before they are sent off for reporting. A basic DICOM editor allows users to correct inaccurate patient information found in DICOM tags. ShareAgent includes a comprehensive set of networking features protocols, including DICOM Send/Receive, Query/Retrieve and Move. Routing rules can be quickly configured to automatically distribute medical images based on a variety of criteria including Modality, Referring Physician, Study Description and Institution Name, amongst other rules. Various forms of lossy and lossless compression in the solution can be applied to different studies to accelerate transmission times. For optimal network usage, ShareAgent also allows routing to be scheduled during off-peak hours when network activity is at its lowest. Emergency STAT cases can be immediately transferred through a variety of manual overrides in the system. ShareAgent also can be deployed in hosted environments to support vendors offering software-as-a-service (SaaS)-based solutions.
ClearCanvas ShareStation is a complete mini-PACS solution designed for medical imaging facilities that perform less than 5,000 studies per year. ShareStation does not require the use of costly servers to operate, and it incorporates a variety of advanced diagnostic features for radiologists, including multiplanar reconstruction (MPR), hanging protocols, positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) image fusion with standardized uptake value (SUV), media burning, spine labelling, digital subtraction imaging, and ClearCanvas' Easel function (where relevant priors are automatically loaded for each patient study). A variety of routing capabilities are similarly integrated into the system that supports communication with any DICOM device. Routing functions are managed through an activity monitor that allows users with little networking experience to easily send and receive medical images from their workstation interface.
ClearCanvas’ ShareAgent and ShareStation share a standardized graphic user interface (GUI) with the company's other workstation products (Workstation, Chirostation and Vetstation).
"Image sharing has become an increasingly important function in healthcare," said Norman Young, president and CEO of ClearCanvas Inc. "From external specialists that need access to diagnostic images to other referring physicians, collaborative approaches have placed a high demand for secure, easy-to-use routing capabilities. ShareAgent and ShareStation represent our company's initial workstation offerings in this area, which will be expanded in subsequent releases."
ClearCanvas' standards-based development platform allows ShareAgent and ShareStation to communicate with image archives and workstations from other vendors. They are currently available from a variety of authorized resellers around the world.
For more information: www.clearcanvas.ca
April 03, 2024 
