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G Gell

Publications and source records attributed to G Gell.

53 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Some software requirements for a PACS: lessons from experiences in clinical routine.

In the Department of Radiology of the University of Graz a PACS which includes CT-scanners as modalities was installed. Parts (communication and archiving) of this PACS are used in routine work. Summarizing our experiences from routine work we discuss a minimal set of software requirements that a PACS must meet to allow a fast and non-problematic operation concerning communication and archiving. Most of the functionality of the PACS is provided by software processes which are running automatically in the background. These processes convert images into the ACR-Nema format, submit data in the image database and so on. If a process does not work correctly or crashes, it may happen that examinations are only partially or even not archived. If the user recognises a malfunction too late the troubles spread over the whole system and great time delays or loss of data may occur. Examples of such malfunctions are software crashes, interruptions of the connection between 2 processes or a hardware crash. A PACS that is used in routine work should conform to a set of requirements like autonomous supervising of the single processes, automatical elimination of malfunctions, communication with the user and others. Then the PACS will operate without problems and safely. An intelligent process-structure which conforms to these requirements will be discussed.

Radiology Information Systems↗

The PACS project in the radiology department of the LKH-Graz.

The PACS-project of Graz was started two years ago in cooperation with Siemens Erlangen. The system environment consists of three CT-devices (DR2, DR3, DRH) connected to an Ethernet-based LAN (CTnet), which is linked to a second Ethernet via a MicroVAX II. This computer works as a gateway, as an image-converter and as an archive. All CT-images of one device (DRH) are transmitted to the PACS system. The images are organized in patient-oriented folders. The physician is able to make reports about those examinations for which he is responsible. The availability of tools for secondary image processing during the reporting session (windowing, zooming, displaying statistic information, etc.) and further image-functions should make the PACS system more convenient for the physician than film-based images. After reporting, all scans which are relevant for the diagnosis (according to the physician's opinion) are selected, automatically reorganized in folders and transmitted to the archive. This needs about one to two minutes per examination. Some internal data-structures and further future aspects concerning the improvement of reliability and user acceptance are mentioned.

Database Management Systems↗