Alternative user interface devices for improved navigation of CT datasets.

The workflow in radiology departments has changed dramatically with the transition to digital PACS, especially with the shift from tile mode to stack mode display of volumetric images. With the increasing number of images in routinely captured datasets, the standard user interface devices (UIDs) become inadequate. One basic approach to improve the navigation of the stack mode datasets is to take advantage of alternative UIDs developed for other domains, such as the computer game industry. We evaluated three UIDs both in clinical practice and in a task-based experiment. After using the devices in the daily image interpretation work, the readers reported that both of the tested alternative UIDs were better in terms of ergonomics compared to the standard mouse and that both alternatives were more efficient when reviewing large CT datasets. In the task-based experiment, one of the tested devices was faster than the standard mouse, while the other alternative was not significantly faster. One of the tested alternative devices showed a larger number of traversed images during the task. The results indicate that alternative user interface devices can improve the navigation of stack mode datasets and that radiologists should consider the potential benefits of alternatives to the standard mouse.