Radiology Guidelines, Direct Support, and Research

Guideline Development

The Global Center develops radiology guidelines, manuals, standard operating procedures, templates, radiology equipment specifications, checklists and other related documents. Additionally, it developed a radiology audit checklist, IOM radiology equipment list, radiology equipment specifications and several templates, a user guide and radiology staff terms of reference, with regular review and continuous updates. The IOM Guideline on 'Screening chest X-ray interpretation and radiographic techniques', developed and published by the Global Center, is used as a first-hand reference for panel physicians, radiologists and radiologic technologists providing TB screening services in the field missions.

Direct Radiology Technical Support

The Global and Regional Teleradiology Centers provide global direct radiology technical support and guidance to IOM field operations on various radiology matters, including consultation during purchase of X-ray machines and other radiology equipment, review of quotations and provision of recommendations, supporting establishment of X-ray units, recruiting and training new radiology staff, technical guidance on radiology contracts, SOPs and guidelines, outsourcing of radiology service to external providers, conducting radiology audit assessment of external providers, and other radiology related issues. 

Operational Research and Global Research Collaboration 

The Global Center conducts operational research and presents the results at global conferences. Operational research on inter-reader agreement in the IOM Teleradiology Quality Control Programme was presented to the International Panel Physicians Associations (IPPA) annual training summit in Panama on March 2017, where it was awarded the first-place prize.  

The Global Center also involves in several research collaboration projects. In coordination with FIND, WHO and US CDC, the Global Center is conducting a global research collaboration regarding the accuracy of three Computer Aided Detection (CAD) Artificial Intelligence (AI) based software technologies for detecting TB, in a manufacturer-independent archive of images, where the software is installed offline in an IOM server. The results of this study were presented to the WHO TB Guidelines Development Group meeting in July 2020 in a report submitted to WHO, and contributed to the development of the WHO Consolidated TB Guideline. The manuscript is finalized and submitted for publication. The Global Center continues to make contributions to research in collaboration with global partners.

Other Collaboration with Key Governments and Global Partners

In addition to teleradiology programmes and global radiology support, the Global Center collaborates with key governments and global partners, contributing to the global migration health agenda. The Global Center was able to expand the teleradiology primary reading service to both IOM and non-IOM panel clinics in close collaboration with requesting government partners. Teleradiology QC activities for non-IOM clinics were conducted in close coordination with US and Canadian immigration health authorities. In 2021, the Global Center collaborated with the US CDC on AI initiative, following the necessary preparation of the protocol and required systems. In collaboration with government of Japan, the Global Center assisted in the development of the new Japan Pre-entry TB screening (JPETS) programme’s chest X-ray reporting form and application, as well as began preparations for teleradiology services as a key element of the quality and integrity of the programme.