title: PACS for Bhutan: a cost effective open source architecture for emerging countries.
abstract: This paper reports the design and implementation of an innovative and cost-effective imaging management infrastructure suitable for radiology centres in emerging countries. It was implemented in the main referring hospital of Bhutan equipped with a CT, an MRI, digital radiology, and a suite of several ultrasound units. They lacked the necessary informatics infrastructure for image archiving and interpretation and needed a system for distribution of images to clinical wards. The solution developed for this project combines several open source software platforms in a robust and versatile archiving and communication system connected to analysis workstations equipped with a FDA-certified version of the highly popular Open-Source software. The whole system was implemented on standard off-the-shelf hardware. The system was installed in three days, and training of the radiologists as well as the technical and IT staff was provided onsite to ensure full ownership of the system by the local team. Radiologists were rapidly capable of reading and interpreting studies on the diagnostic workstations, which had a significant benefit on their workflow and ability to perform diagnostic tasks more efficiently. Furthermore, images were also made available to several clinical units on standard desktop computers through a web-based viewer.
  • Open source imaging informatics platforms can provide cost-effective alternatives for PACS • Robust and cost-effective open architecture can provide adequate solutions for emerging countries • Imaging informatics is often lacking in hospitals equipped with digital modalities.
authors.affiliation: University Hospital of Geneva, Geneve, Switzerland. osman.ratib@hcuge.ch.|Department of Medical Imaging and Information Sciences, Division of Nuclear Medicine, Rue Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil 4, 1211, Geneve 14, Switzerland. osman.ratib@hcuge.ch.
authors.forename: Osman
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0222-0635
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ratib
authors.affiliation: University Hospital of Geneva, Geneve, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Roduit
authors.affiliation: Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital, Thimphu, Bhutan.
authors.forename: Dechen
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nidup
authors.affiliation: Imagerie & Développement (ID), Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Gerard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: De Geer
authors.affiliation: University Hospital of Geneva, Geneve, Switzerland.|Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital, Thimphu, Bhutan.|Imagerie & Développement (ID), Geneva, Switzerland.|La Tour Réseau de Soins, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Antoine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rosset
authors.affiliation: University Hospital of Geneva, Geneve, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Antoine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Geissbuhler
keywords: Medical imaging; Picture archiving and communication systems; Radiology information system; Software tools; Teleradiology