[The PACS concept of the University of Regensburg].

Aim: Planning a PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System) with the aim of a filmless hospital. The service for the referring physicians should be optimised.

Methods: Statistical analysis of data from the RIS (Radiological Information System), customer survey, workflow analysis and cost effectiveness analysis was the basis for planning the PACS.

Results: The calculated data quantity of the institute is 6.2 gigabyte per day or 1.7 terabyte per year. The referring physicians wanted to have the examination in 93% of the cases on the same day. For 53% of the cases remote studies were necessary for reading. Only 2.3% of these pictures were older than two years. The organisation of the department makes it necessary to have access to the examination of all modalities from each diagnosis workstation.

Conclusions: Due to specific attributes of the institute, a fast nearline archive, a clustering of the diagnosis workstations and a DiCOM based picture distribution were planned.