THE DPACS PROJECT AT THE UNIVERSITY-OF-TRIESTE

The DPACS project (Data and Picture Archiving and Communication System ) was undertaken at the University of Trieste by the Institute of Radi ology and the DEEI (Dipartimento di Elettrotecnica, Elettronica ed Inf ormatica), in collaboration with the CRSTBS (Centro Ricerche e Studi T ecnologie Biomediche Sanitarie) of the Area Science Park and the Azien da Ospedaliera of Trieste. The main objective of this project is to cr eate an open system for the management of clinical data and images and for the integration of health care services. The first phase is orien ted toward finding an implementation strategy for the creation of a pr ototype DPACS system, to serve as a starting point for the realization of a distributed structure for the extension of the service, firstly to the entire structure of the Cattinara Hospital and subsequently to all the Public Health units in Trieste. After local testing, the servi ce will finally be expanded to a wider geographical level. The intensi ve computerization of the Institute of Radiology furnished the most fa vourable environment for the verification of the prototype, as the ser vice provided by the existing RIS (Radiology Information System) and P ACS (Picture and Archiving Communication System) has long been consoli dated. One of the main goals of the project, in particular, is to repl ace the old, by now obsolete, PACS with the DPACS services.