Radiology Information System PACS , DICOM , VNA

By Ragesh Nair

What is RISA radiology information system (RIS) is a networked software system for managing medical imagery and associated data.

A RIS is especially useful for tracking radiology imaging orders and billing information, and is often used in conjunction with PACS and VNAs to manage image archives, record-keeping and billing.

Major Components of RISHIS (Hospital Information Systems) PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System),VNA( Vendor Neutral Archival )These are critical to efficient workflow to radiology practices.

RIS Basic FunctionsPatient management

Scheduling

Patient tracking

Results reporting

Image tracking

Billing

What is PACS.?PACS (picture archiving and communication system) is a healthcare technology for the short- and long-term storage, retrieval, management, distribution and presentation of medical images.

Major components of PACSImaging systems, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed axial tomography (CAT scan), and X-ray equipment.

A secure network for distribution and exchange of patient information.

Workstations or mobile devices for viewing, processing and interpreting images.

Archives for storage and retrieval of images and related documentation and reports

What is DICOMThe Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) Standard specifies a non-proprietary data interchange protocol, digital image format, and file structure for biomedical images and image-related information.

DICOM was originally developed by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) and the American College of Radiology for computerized axial tomography (CAT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan images.

It is now controlled by the DICOM Standards Committee and supports a wide range of medical images across the fields of radiology, cardiology, pathology and dentistry. DICOM uses TCP/IP as the lower-layer transport protocol.

What is VNA..?Vendor neutral archive (VNA), in a health information technology context, is a medical imaging technology used by healthcare professionals that stores images in a standard format and interface, making medical imaging data accessible through different picture archiving and communication systems (PACS).

Concepts of Neutrality

Few features of VNA●Data Consolidation and Migration ●Information Lifecycle Management ●IT Simplification and Consolidation ●Non-DICOM content processing●Dynamic tag morphing

One purpose of a VNA is to store information and serve it to multiple systems that may have different requirements for its use and expectations for very specific characteristics of the DICOM attributes and values stored in themThe concept of "dynamic tag morphing" as a solution to the problem of two different systems expecting different values in the same attribute of DICOM.

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