The future of PACS in healthcare enterprises.
Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS), which was originally designed as a tool for facilitating radiologists in interpreting images more efficiently, is evolving into a hospital-integrated system storing diagnostic imaging information that often reaches far beyond Radiology. The continuous evolution of PACS technology has led to a gradual broadening of its applications, ranging from teleradiology to CAD (Computer-Assisted Diagnosis) and multidimensional imaging, and is moving into the direction of providing access to image data outside the Radiology department, so to reach all the branches of the healthcare enterprise. New perspectives have been created thanks to new technologies (such as holographic media and GRID computing) that are likely due to expand PACS-based applications even further, improving patient care and enhancing overall productivity.
Faggioni
Lorenzo
L
Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
Neri
Emanuele
E
Castellana
Carlo
C
Caramella
Davide
D
Bartolozzi
Carlo
C
D003658:Decision Making, Computer-Assisted; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted / Q000639:trends; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000639:trends; D005544:Forecasting; D006751:Hospital Information Systems / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000639:trends*; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized / Q000639:trends; D011873:Radiology Information Systems / Q000639:trends*; D018511:Systems Integration