PACS storage requirements—influence of changes in imaging modalities

Abstract

In current radiology departments, imaging modalities are changing rapidly. One reason for these changes is the continuous technical development providing new imaging modalities with higher spatial and temporal resolution and increased capabilities. Another important reason for change is the replacement of non-digital modalities by digital DICOM modalities to ensure easy storage into the Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS). Besides the impact on working procedures for both radiologists and technologists, these changes in imaging modalities also influence the storage requirements of the PACS. In the University Hospital Groningen, digital archiving of imaging data started late 1999. From this time on, monthly production figures were collected from different modality types and the dates of changes in imaging modalities were recorded. Our results show that increase in data production is not limited to the recent advancement of multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT), but also new ultrasound (US) devices, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and X-ray angiography (XA) could have major impact on the storage capacity requirements. Our measurements show that PACS storage capacity planning should take into account a large margin for growth because of image modality replacement.