A computer-system crash last week caused radiology test delays at three hospitals in Vancouver and Richmond.
"One of the three servers that operates the Picture Archiving and Communication System for Vancouver General, UBC and Richmond Hospitals failed Sunday, March 18," said Vancouver Coastal Health spokesman Gavin Wilson.
That meant imaging tests - X-rays, MRIs, CTs and ultrasound tests - had to be prioritized so urgent and emergency patients got them first.
"The delays created a backlog of images that were waiting for reading and interpretation by radiologists at VGH," Wilson said, noting that medical specialists worked overtime to clear the backlog, but there are still a few continuing technical problems.
An anonymous caller from the radiology department told The Sun that hundreds of images had been "lost" due to the crash, but Wilson denied that.
"We are still recovering images from the archive, but at this time, no images have been identified as lost," he said.
Mike Nader, executive director of medical imaging for Vancouver Coastal Health and other Lower Main-land health authorities, said the crash occurred in computer hardware that is to be replaced in June. The system was installed in 2005.
As with most radiology imaging systems, the PACS has a built-in redundancy feature that means copies are made and archived of every imaging test, Nader said. Thousands of studies have been "repopulated" now that the glitch has been fixed and radiologists have finished sorting through the backlog of tests that were waiting for interpretation.
Nader said the new system won't cost anything because the vendor receives $900,000 a year through a service agreement and the costs of the upgrade will be covered through that agreement.
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