An economical, personal computer-based picture archiving and communicationsystem

Taichung Veterans General Hospital has been developing a hospital-wide pict ure archiving and communication system (PACS) since 1993, A personal comput er-based environment was implemented to reduce costs (only $2,500 for each view station) and take advantage of distributed system techniques. Other fe atures of the PACS are automatic image acquisition, hierarchic storage mana gement, efficient image transmission, robust fault tolerance, and user-frie ndly image manipulation, The system is integrated with the hospital informa tion system so that Chinese-language patient data can be automatically tran sferred. A four-tier storage hierarchy and a multipath search strategy are used to improve reliability and efficiency. Image compression and efficient image transmission techniques (autorouting and prefetching) are used to re duce the response time. Robust fault tolerance is achieved with fault-toler ant hardware, image replication, and a system watchdog. User-friendly image manipulation features include easy adjustment of the brightness, contrast, or quality of the displayed image; several windows for image display; and image measurement capability. The PACS currently supports computed tomograp hy, ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging, computed radiography, and digit al fluoroscopy; almost all appropriate personal computers in the hospital c an be used as view stations. Users are satisfied with the quality, reliabil ity, and performance of the system.