Obtaining digital files from radiographic films

Digitizing images with low cost off-the-shelf technology arises as an alternative to storage films in developing countries. The objective of this work is to determine a low-cost method to digitize Rx films for educative and remote-consult purposes. To this aim, different ways of digitizing were compared against conventional methods to determine the feasibility to have a simple-low cost method that is quality independent from facilities and operator. Different images from digital photo cameras and scanners (with or without transparency adapter at different resolutions and color depth) were analyzed. We present preliminary results for digitizing Rx films with a fast and simple inexpensive system that capture quality images, and optimal sizes for storage in basic PCs in hospitals, with the possibility of asking for a second opinion via e-mail or through a web-based service. It must be noted that in many cases the only way of communication is via dial-up telephone line