Paul S. Cho

Centralized vs. Distributed PACS for Intensive Care Units

One clinical environment which can immediately benefit from the implementation of a radiologic PACS is the intensive care unit (ICU). Our previous study has demonstrated the feasibility and timeliness of routine image transmission to an ICU. In anticipation of future expansion of this service, we have investigated two different models for a hospital-wide ICU PACS. These models included a centralized and a distributed processing PACS configuration. Their comparison indicated that although the distributed model offers some major advantages over the centralized model, the latter may hold a rightful place in the inter-departmental service, especially if the cost issue is a critical factor.

Performance Evaluation of a Clinical PACS Module

Picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) are now clinically available in limited radiologic applications. The benefits, acceptability, and reliablity of these systems have thus far been mainly speculative and anecdotal. This paper discusses the evaluation of a PACS module implemented in the pediatric radiology section of a 700-bed teaching hospital. The PACS manages all pediatric inpatient images including conventional x-rays and contrast studies (obtained with a computed radiography system), magnetic resonance images, and relevant ultrasound images. A six-monitor workstation is available for image review.

A Dedicated Digital Projectional Radiographic System

We have integrated a dedicated digital projectional radiographic system for the Chest Radiology Section at UCLA. The system has been running since September, 1988 and is undergoing clinical evaluation. This paper describes the image acquisition, communication, storage, and display components of this system. An implementation of the system as a full PACS module in the Chest Radiology Section is in progress.

Clinical Experience With A Digital Remote Viewing System In Coronary Care Unit

As a critical care unit that functions under strict time constraints, the coronary care unit (CCU) requires rapid access to radiological information of the patient. In order to meet this clinical demand, a digital remote viewing system was developed and has been in clinical operation since March 1987. The system delivers the softcopy of chest images to the intensive care unit. During the nine months of continuous clinical operation, the system was evaluated by analyzing the utilization and performance statistics.

Procedures, Films, And Images In A Pediatric Radiology Image Archive: One Year's Experience And Projections

A digital optical disk archive has been running continuously in the Pediatric Radiology Section at UCLA for over one year. During this year both the computerized patient registration system and the optical disk image archive have been accumulating patient and image data. Statistics derived from one years operation are combined with a pediatric film library survey to summarize system use and to project departmental archive requirements.

A General Purpose Optical Disk System With A Radiological Imaging Application

The growth of large databases always leads to problems of data storage. Applications with multigigabyte requirements such as pictorial or document storage are particularly difficult. A variety of technological solutions have been developed that rely on high density optical storage for rapid access to large volumes of data. A major frustration for those of us engaged in research on application-oriented computer systems has been the difficulty in obtaining and integrating these specialized mass storage devices. This paper details (1) the integration of a Hitachi 301 digital optical disk storage device into a VAX minicomputer system, (2) the software system to support the optical disk, (3) the performance of the hardware/software system, and (4) the integration of optical disk operation into an application in radiological imaging. The software system is designed under the VMS operating system in FORTRAN 77 to facilitate simple integration of optical disk functions into application packages.

Integration Of An MR Image Network Into A Clinical PACS

A direct link between a clinical pediatric PACS module and a FONAR MRI image network was implemented. The original MR network combines together the MR scanner, a remote viewing station and a central archiving station. The pediatric PACS directly connects to the archiving unit through an Ethernet TCP-IP network adhering to FONARs protocol. The PACS communication software developed supports the transfer of patient studies and the patient information directly from the MR archive database to the pediatric PACS. In the first phase of our project we developed a package to transfer data between a VAX-111750 and the IBM PC I AT-based MR archive database through the Ethernet network. This system served as a model for PACS-to-modality network communication. Once testing was complete on this research network, the software and network hardware was moved to the clinical pediatric VAX for full PACS integration. In parallel to the direct transmission of digital images to the Pediatric PACS, a broadband communication system in video format was developed for real-time broadcasting of images originating from the MR console to 8 remote viewing stations distributed in the radiology department. These analog viewing stations allow the radiologists to directly monitor patient positioning and to select the scan levels during a patient examination from remote locations in the radiology department. This paper reports (1) the technical details of this implementation, (2) the merits of this network development scheme, and (3) the performance statistics of the network-to-PACS interface.

The Software Architecture Of An Integrated Optical Disk Archive For Digital Radiographic Images

Radiology is changing as a result of the tremendous expansion in the number and size of digital radiographs. The introduction of computed radiography systems and digital laser scanners now allows the radiology department to routinely collect images as digital information with resolution in excess of 2048x2048x8 bits. This high resolution combined with the large number of radiographs acquired in a working clinical environment creates a problem in digital image storage and management. To solve this problem we have developed an optical disk software and hardware subsystem which is integrated into the UCLA Clinical Radiology Imaging System (CRIS). CRIS takes advantage of the storage capacity and speed hierarchy offered by image processor memory, conventional magnetic disk, and optical disk to provide an efficient means of acquiring, viewing, and storing a large number of digital images. The optical disk subsystem provides long term storage for digital radiographs on dual optical disk drives coupled to a multi-volume image file data base.