Computer networks in radiology: An introduction

Abstract

Personal computers (PCs) are what most of us use to store information (data) of various kinds, from photographs of the time you visited Alaska and video recordings of your child's birthday to the article on the role of perfusion MRI in brain tumors. When we want to share data stored on a PC, we transfer the data to a removable medium such as a floppy disc or a pen drive or a compact disc and then physically transport the medium to another computer. Another way is to link up the computers in some way so that data can be sent directly from one computer to another. A system in which many computers are connected to each other for this purpose is a ‘computer network.’ Computers are at the heart of modern image processing and storage. The ability computers provide to effortlessly share and transfer images and patient data with the picture archiving and communication system has changed the practice of radiology. This article will focus on the basics of how computer networks are created.