Coping with PACS downtime in digital radiology

As radiology departments become increasingly reliant on picture archiving a nd communication systems, they become more vulnerable to computer downtime that can paralyze a smoothly running department. The experiences and strate gies developed during various types of picture archiving and communication system (PACS) downtime in a large radiology department that has completely converted to soft copy interpretation in all modalities except mammography are presented. Because these failures can be minimized but not eliminated, careful planning is necessary to minimize their impact. Copyright (C) 2000 by W.B. Saunders Company.