An IT architecture that links multivendor, multisite PACS into an efficient enterprise network debuted at RSNA 2008 in the Carestream Health booth. Carestream framed the architecture as “the first-ever SuperPACS” that streamlines workflow among sites using disparate PACS by sharing patient images and information, while providing a global work list that spans the various PACS to balance exam reading among onsite and offsite radiologists.
An IT architecture that links multivendor, multisite PACS into an efficient enterprise network debuted at RSNA 2008 in the Carestream Health booth. Carestream framed the architecture as "the first-ever SuperPACS" that streamlines workflow among sites using disparate PACS by sharing patient images and information, while providing a global work list that spans the various PACS to balance exam reading among onsite and offsite radiologists.
Carestream augmented the architecture with an enhanced RIS/PACS offering of its own design, which the company is billing as more than an upgrade, because it offers a host of new features. One part of the RIS is a user-customized graphical user interface. Also included are an instant messaging capability that will link radiologists and clinicians using IBM Sametime technology, a web portal for exam rescheduling, and one-touch deployment for users to install and run the RIS client from a URL.
The PACS side offers productivity gains made possible through real-time volume matching and automatic registration for CT, MR, and PET/CT. These capabilities, shown as a work-in-progress at the Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine meeting in spring, will speed the comparison of current and prior cases. A power viewer builds a single virtual study by drawing data from all relevant studies, both new and prior ones, then automatically registers and synchronizes them with a single click from the user.
