Evolution of the Digital Revolution: A Radiologist Perspective

The transformation from film-based to filmless operation has become more and more challenging, as imaging studies expand in size and complexity. To adapt to these changes, radiologists must proactively develop new workflow strategies to compensate for increasing work demands and the existing workforce shortage. This article addresses the evolutionary changes underway in the radiology interpretation process and reviews changes that have occurred in the past decade. These include a number of developments in soft-copy interpretation, which is migrating from a relatively static process, duplicating film-based interpretation, to a dynamic process, using multi-planar reconstructions, volumetric navigation, and electronic decision support tools. The result is optimization of the human–computer interface with improved productivity, diagnostic confidence, and interpretation accuracy.