Integrating a personal-computer local-area network with a radiology information system: value as a tool for clinical research.

We investigated a method for increasing the utility of a radiology information system by connecting it to a personal-computer network and transferring radiologic data to a more user-friendly, familiar computing environment. We have developed a personal-computer local-area network that is linked to our radiology information system. Our software periodically transfers data from the radiology information system to a file server on our network that supports cross-platform access for Macintosh and IBM PC--compatible computers. Data are stored in formats compatible with inexpensive personal-computer software. These capabilities facilitate any research that requires a tailored, retrospective analysis of radiologic data. The need for ancillary personnel to perform paper-based searches or redundant data entry is decreased. Radiologists and administrators also have user-friendly access to information that might facilitate other projects dealing with education or analysis of clinical efficacy. The ever-growing power of personal computers, combined with inexpensive yet sophisticated software for these machines, frequently provides a more useful method for retrospective analysis of radiologic data than does a proprietary radiology information system running on a minicomputer.