Digital radiology and PACS.

Future hospital information systems should permit the systematic storage of all information generalized within the hospital, including medical diagnostic images. For such a system to be realized, implementation of a picture archiving and communication system (PACS) is needed. The development of computed radiography with an imaging plate (CR) has made it possible for digitalization of all kinds of projection radiographs, and thus for PACS to be realized. In this paper the clinical usefulness of CR and many factors required to realize PACS are described.