Does ASE have a policy regarding degradation of echo images and the possible conversion of echo video images?
The ASE does not have an official policy on videotape enhancement, or have any specific vendors that it would recommend for either of these 2 processes. Unfortunately, videotape images degrade over a number of years and often very quickly the more the image has been played. It may be legally dangerous to use methods to enhance those images. Check with your own medical records department before changing anything about the image. Often in legal cases the attorneys for both parties want the “original” video, so a copy or a reproduced enhanced copy which has been enhanced may not be appropriate. Certainly there are vendors and solutions that will improve the quality of older videotape. The legal and law enforcement industries perform video enhancement so there is a possibility that healthcare may do the same. As for taking your previously recorded videotaped echo images and converting them to a digital storage file, there are echo labs that looked for help in this from the ultrasound manuf
