A Hierarchical Pyramid-Based PACS at Taichung Veterans General Hospital in Taiwan

Abstract

In this paper, a hierarchical model for Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (HPACS) is presented and implemented at Taichung Vererans General Hospital (TCVGH) in Taiwan. Despite the fact that the HPACS is built on the architecture of the second generation PACS, it offers many features and advantages that the second generation PACS can be improved, such as the user security control, fast resource dispatch and efficient resource management. This HPACS can be used as a reference model for a hospital with any scale-size. The real implementation of HPACS is currently undertaken in the Taichung Veterans General Hospital (TCVGH), Taiwan, Republic of China and consists of four phases with the first two phases already completed. It is the first successful pilot system ever implemented in a large-scale hospital in Taiwan. The experiences have shown a great promise of the HPACS in the future.