Managing the CT data explosion: Initial experiences of archiving volumetric datasets in a mini-PACS

Two image datasets (one thick section dataset and another volumetric dataset) were typically reconstructed from each single CT projection data. The volumetric dataset was stored in a mini-PACS with 271-gigabyte online and 680-gigabyte nearline storage and routed to radiologists' workstations, while the thick section dataset was stored in the main PACS. Over a five-month sample period, 278-gigabytes of CT data (8,976 examinations) were stored in the main PACS, and 738-gigabytes of volumetric datasets (6,193 examinations) were stored in the mini-PACS. The volumetric datasets formed 32.8% of total data for all modalities (2.20 terabytes) in the main PACS and mini-PACS combined. At the end of this period, the volumetric datasets of 1,892 and 5,162 examinations were kept online and nearline, respectively. Mini-PACS offers an effective method of archiving every volumetric dataset and delivering it to radiologists.