Presented at the 2000 APIII Conference                        Return to 2000 Abstract Index

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PACS AS A CORE IMAGE ARCHIVE FOR THE HOSPITAL

Children's Hospital
Department of Pathology
Columbus, Ohio
Mark Luquette, MD

PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System) is the current standard in digital radiology for image capture, storage and viewing. At Children's Hospital, Inc., the PACS uses a MOD jukebox as part of its storage medium. Its capacity is 2.6 terabytes. The system is also configured with a web server to allow password access to view images with a web browser. With a generous storage capacity and web access in place, the PACS is a natural place to create a core image archive.

Images are generated throughout the hospital and are saved in a variety of formats and media, most of which require a unique interface or workstation to access; thus, the physician must interact with a number of third parties to access the text and images of a patient's data. Many of these disparate systems; however, have the capability to store images in a generic file format. In an alpha collaboration with the manufacturer of our PACS, a system has been configured to allow access to the PACS via workstations that will allow the storage of non-radiology digital images in the PACS. If successful, this system will establish a gateway into the PACS for non-radiology images and set the stage for a hospital core image archive.