PACS: A Guide to the Digital Revolution [Hardcover]

Keith J. Dreyer (Editor), David S. Hirschorn (Editor), James H. Thrall (Editor), Amit Mehta (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0387260102 | ISBN-13: 978-0387260105 | Publication Date: November 17, 2005 | Edition: 2nd

PACS: A Guide to the Digital Revolution, Second Edition, fills an incredible need by explaining the technological advances associated with the transition of radiology departments to filmless environments. The editors are leaders in the field of medical imaging and they provide insight into emerging technologies for physicians, administrators, and other interested groups. Chapters address key topics in current literature with regard to the generation, transfer, interpretation, and distribution of images. This new edition has been updated to include: 1. An overview of the latest medical imaging standards; 2. A discussion of security issues as they relate to PACS, especially regarding HIPAA; 3. An introduction to current information on PACS workstations, including the impact of new software and hardware on radiologists; 4. An updated explanation of data storage and compression that highlights how advancements are applied; 5. A section on how PACS influences research and education.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

In the modern age of digital health care and medical imaging informatics, Picture Archiving and Communications Systems (PACS) have become a fundamental part of the technological infrastructure supporting the practice of radiology. PACS: A Guide to the Digital Revolution, second edition, provides the reader with a comprehensive overview of this blossoming technology. With contributions from leaders in the field of PACS, this user-friendly guide addresses the introductory concepts, computing fundamentals, advanced imaging technologies, and future opportunities. It also offers invaluable concepts and tools that facilitate the financial evaluation of PACS, making it a great resource for those looking to plan for PACS implementation, assess institutional needs, write an RFP, and compare vendors' quotes. The second edition has been revised and updated to keep pace with the rapidly evolving field of picture archiving and communications systems. This new edition includes: An overview of the latest medical imaging standards. A discussion of security issues as they relate to PACS, especially regarding HIPAA. An introduction to current information on PACS workstations, including the impact of new software and hardware on radiologists. An updated explanation of data storage and compression that highlights how advancements are applied. A section on how PACS influences research and education. This text is geared toward radiologists, technologists, administrators, and IT professionals wishing to be a part of the medical imaging revolution.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 595 pages
• Publisher: Springer; 2nd edition (November 17, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0387260102
• ISBN-13: 978-0387260105
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #679,846 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Useful Book to Learn About PACS, May 27, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: PACS: A Guide to the Digital Revolution (Hardcover)

My review of the book is through the perspective of someone who is somewhat knowledgeable about computer technology but quite lacking in my knowledge of PACS, radiology workflow and processes, and imaging technologies.

Quite simply, this book met all of my goals in filling in the gaps in my knowledge. I'm not going to go through the entire book, but I am going to discuss the chapters that I personally found most useful.

FINANCIAL MODELING
Information technology is full of interesting ideas that lack "financial legs". This chapter discussed finances behind a film-based radiology department and a filmless one including techniques for developing a business case for a PACS.

DICOM
This chapter provides a primer on DICOM. Having a stronger background in HL7, I found this chapter useful in unraveling the mystery and secret language used by DICOM professionals. I now understand the business rational and use of each of the DICOM transactions.

WORKFLOW
This chapter described the workflows in a film-based department and how the workflow should change after the proper implementation of a PACS. Workflow is described from the perspective of the patient, the technologist, and the radiologist. I feel comfortable in creating "straw man workflows" after reading this chapter. One of the most interesting things in this chapter was a description of a traditional time and motion study performed on radiologists before the implementation of a PACS and after implementation.

IMAGE ACQUISITION
This chapter familiarized the reader with the modalities that supply the images to the PACS. I learned about each modality, the different technologies for getting images digitized.

OTHER INTERESTING CHAPTERS
The book also had chapters on Computing Fundamentals, Networking Fundamentals, and Storage Technologies that would be excellent for someone needing a primer in those areas.

SUMMARY
Also, the book did good job of covering certain relevant technical details that would appeal to the more technically inclined but would add to my credibility to be able to understand at a superficial level: Imaging Workstation Technologies, Image Compression, Voice Recognition, Teleradiology, Legal Issues, and Utilization Management.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Very skimpy on DICOM, HL7., May 25, 2006

By 

Gary Colwill (Chino, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: PACS: A Guide to the Digital Revolution (Hardcover)

This review is for the second edition.

I think this book would be very useful for a radiologist or clinical applications specialist who wants an overview of issues to consider when undertaking a PACS implementation. However, DICOM seems to be a very important component of any PACS system, as well as HL7 - but both were barely mentioned, except in passing, in this book.

I actually bought the book on the basis of another person's review where he went through each of the chapters he found useful, and one of those chapters was DICOM. He must have had a different version of this book, because I read it from cover to cover and could not find a chapter dedicated to DICOM. The most I found was a small section on pages 190 - 192 (in the image acquisition chapter) which gives a short history of DICOM but no in-depth details. The paragraph on page 425 (the PACS workstation software chapter), where the author provides information about freeware and shareware DICOM image viewing and manipulating software, is useful.

Interestingly, the most information that can be had about HL7 in this book can be found in the voice recognition chapter...hmmmm.

My bottom line is that if you want a decent *overview* of the whole subject of PACS, this book could be useful, but if you're looking for DICOM or HL7 details, look elsewhere (and if you find a good source of info on these subjects, please let me know at [e-mail] - thanks!)

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A PACS Planner's dream!, December 10, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: PACS: A Guide to the Digital Revolution (Hardcover)

We are in the process of installing a system wide PACS system at our 350 bed hospital and this book was a god-sent. Explanations are clear and concise, pertinent for all levels of users. I am a radiologist, but our administrator and PACS (to be) administrator also gained much valuable information from this publication.