What Is A Picture Archiving And Communication System (PACS)?

Carla Marceau

doi:10.1117/12.967618

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14 January 1982 What Is A Picture Archiving And Communication System (PACS)?

Carla Marceau

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Proceedings Volume 0318, 1st Intl Conf and Workshop on Picture Archiving and Communication Systems; (1982) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.967618
Event: 1st International Conference and Workshop on Picture Archiving and Communication Systems, 1981, Newport Beach, United States

Abstract

A PACS is a digital system for acquiring, storing, moving and displaying picture or image information. It is an alternative to film jackets that has been made possible by recent breakthroughs in computer technology: telecommunications, local area nets and optical disks. The fundamental concept of the digital representation of image information is introduced. It is shown that freeing images from a material representation on film or paper leads to a dramatic increase in flexibility in our use of the images. The ultimate goal of a medical PACS system is a radiology department without film jackets. The inherent nature of digital images and the power of the computer allow instant free "copies" of images to be made and thrown away. These copies can be transmitted to distant sites in seconds, without the "original" ever leaving the archives of the radiology department. The result is a radiology department with much freer access to patient images and greater protection against lost or misplaced image information. Finally, images in digital form can be treated as data for the computer in image processing, which includes enhancement, reconstruction and even computer-aided analysis.

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Carla Marceau "What Is A Picture Archiving And Communication System (PACS)?", Proc. SPIE 0318, 1st Intl Conf and Workshop on Picture Archiving and Communication Systems, (14 January 1982); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.967618

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