Experience of a small PACS in Tottori University Hospital

Picture archiving and communications systems (PACS) are expected to become feasible as the way of total radiologic image management. As the first step towards computerized image management, we installed an experimental small PACS with a digital optical archive for magnetic resonance and digitized radiographic film images. During the first 10 months of operation, problems were caused by the frequent mechanical troubles on the acquisition devices, impractical schemes for transmission, and troublesome retrieval and display of images. Although some of them have been solved by the improvements of both hardware and software, the mechanical instability of the digitizer and the inadequate operating procedure of the workstation still remain. As to the characteristics of PACS, the capability of access to every achieved radiologic image is the great advantage for us because the image integration has been impossible in the form of radiographic films for the traditional image management system of our hospital. However, the complicated image display procedure with high overheads is far from ideal for radiologists. The efficiency of image display must be increased to the level of a conventional film viewing system. Furthermore, research is needed on the small PACS to get consensus for the acceptance of a more widely implemented system.