By Brian Wells, MSM, MPH

Surgical Radiology is an app that aims to teach appropriate surgical radiology interpretation skills for surgeons and trainees.
It emphasizes the clinical implications for imaging findings and prompts the user to identify the imaging abnormality and suggest treatments, where appropriate.

It is a free app written for the iOS platform (iPhone & iPad), developed by Drs. Dangleben and Lee at the Lehigh Valley Health Network, a Level I Trama Center in Pennsylvania with a general surgery residency.
When using the app, the user is shown a pop up image, and you’re prompted to find the pathology. When the user taps on the image, the diagnosis pops up. A multiple choice question related to the image then populates the screen. To make it more interesting, a timer in the top right hand corner, and counts down from 30 seconds . Users can compare their scores using iOS’s native Gamecenter — one of the first times we’ve seen a medical app use the gaming platform from Apple.
After displaying a loading screen, the Surgical Radiology app displays a menu consisting of Dept. of Surgery, Surgical Trivia, Help, Credits and Learning Objectives.

Strengths:

• Works on iPhone and iPad in native modes
• Provides an image interpretation and question and answer format for learning
• Covers a variety of surgical cases and imaging findings
• Allows on-the-go learning or reinforcement of knowledge related to surgical conditions
• Works with Appleís Game Center to allow for recording of scores and competition
• Developed by physicians at an accredited surgery program with University affiliation
• It is free

Weaknesses:

• Subtle findings may not be registered on initially tapping on the iPhone version
• The correct response is not displayed after selecting an incorrect response in the multiple choice
• Sound effects become annoying after a few minutes of play (subjective)

Conclusions:

• Provides an entertaining way to learn surgical radiology
• Images are clear and easy to read on the iPhone 4 or iPad (lower resolution iPhone not available for testing)
• As a free application, it provides great value to the end user
• Application is recommended for download based on price and value to end user