title: Current views on the functionalities of PACS.
abstract: The concept of PACS has evolved from a central storage of medical images to a distributed data and image management system. The trend and evolution of the definition and design of PACS systems is described in this paper. Special emphasis on the concept of distributed and open architecture is given with a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of each approach. A hospital-wide PACS system designed based on a distributed architecture integrated with a Hospital Information System (HIS) at the University Hospital of Geneva is further described.
authors.affiliation: Centre of Medical Informatics, University Hospital of Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ratib
mesh_terms: D003199:Computer Systems; D011873:Radiology Information Systems / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000639:trends; D013673:Technology Assessment, Biomedical