The invention and usage of PACS have been very useful for radiology. We don’t have to print out physical copies of the patients’ medical images if we don’t want to, we can just see them with a PACS DICOM viewer. The images stored in PACS servers can be seen using a PACS in healthcare. But no invention is without problems. PACS has some problems, too. We discuss the 6 main problems with PACS.
Different Vendors
Unlike VNAs, PACS servers aren’t vendor-neutral, which means people who use different vendors than the one they are trying to connect with, can’t. This is probably the biggest problem of PACS servers. With lots of vendors, it’s not a surprise to see different hospitals using PACS from different vendors but the problem arises when one tries to view, copy, and import images or data from the other PACS. It’s also problematic when the CDs/DVDs used for transferring medical data don’t support the PACS because of different vendors.
Data Backup, and Archive
Since PACS servers are stored in physical space, it’s very likely that the data saved in the server may get destroyed in events of tropical storms, hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, etc. The data recovery system in PACS servers isn’t well developed and data could be lost due to an unexpected accident.
Transferring Images
Sometimes it takes a lot of time to successfully transfer images, which wastes time. Time is very important when it comes to treating patients. These particular problems mostly lie with older PACS, though.
Changing IP, Hostname, DICOM Attributes, AET
It’s tough to change the IP address, hostname, AET, and DICOM attributes sometimes in PACS. This is a huge problem because it not only wastes time but also breaks focus.
Training
This problem is not so much with the PACS itself but more with its users. If you are not well trained to run a PACS server, you will face a lot of problems. Effective training not only serves as a means to solve problems but also prepares users to administer the PACS well. It’s also cost-effective because the money spent on training is much less than the money it will take to resolve issues arisen for the lack of training. Training will help the users to do their jobs more conveniently and in lesser time.
Hanging Protocols
This is a very common problem for PACS users. Non-standardized hanging protocol display is a hard challenge for PACS users to overcome. Sometimes in some PACS, images from different modalities aren’t organized by default and it takes longer to read every study which adds up to a lot of wasted time for the doctors.
Conclusion
PACS has been the number one relying point for medical image storing and archiving for years. And it has served well, even with its problems. But now that Vendor Neutral Archive or VNA has come, more people each year are ditching PACS and using VNAs. PACS problems can be solved but since it’s not vendor-neutral, most hospitals will use VNAs than PACS in the near future.
