By PAUL BALCERAK
Staff writer
They’re not exactly Supermen, but thanks to a new technology, chiropractors Joseph Christman and Tony Lane have the best X-ray vision in Kitsap County.
A couple weeks ago, the pair had a new digital imaging scanner installed in their shared office on Bucklin Hill Road. Now they’re looking forward to the benefits of the new computer-based technology.
“A lot of the advantages you see in digital photography, you see in this,” Lane said. “You can get so much information out of one exposure that you used to not be able to.”
For instance, the scanner doesn’t just take X-ray images. The technology makes it possible to “zoom” in and out through layers of bone and soft tissue, allowing doctors to see much more with much less.
“Most of the time when people come in, (their problems are related to) soft tissue,” Lane said.
Before, bone images were taken with X-rays and soft tissue was photographed with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) which tends to take a while. The new scanner is basically a point and click procedure.
Because the images are digital, Christman and Lane are able to distribute them a lot easier. Patients can be given CDs with their X-rays and the imaging software, which they can take home. The software and images also can be sent to doctor’s offices and hospitals with much greater efficiency.
Harrison Medical Center has already begun referring patients to Christman and Lane for spot photos that are then analyzed by Harrison doctors.
“From our end, it’s a lot more efficient,” Christman said. “It gives the patients better care.”
The digital tech also cuts down on waste.
“One thing I like is, no more chemicals,” Lane said.
Traditional X-rays are not unlike old-fasioned film, only they’re much bigger and they have to be kept as part of a patient’s medical records.
“We have warehouses full of this stuff that we have to hang onto,” Lane said.
Christman and Lane haven’t seen a huge surge in customer traffic because of the technology — “We’ve just been busy taking care of patients and using it,” Lane said — but they remain giddy about the idea of being the only chiropractic firm in the county with the technology.
“It’s a lot cheaper to get a bunch of old cassettes and set up a dark room in a closet, but you get what you pay for,” Lane said. “It’s more fun to be at the forefront.”
