Technical aspects of PACS in Korea

Korea is one of the fastest growing countries in the number of filmless hospitals. More than 70 hospitals have converted to filmless environments by adopting full PAC systems during the last two years. The patient care environment in Korean hospitals was not favorable to PACS implementation. In many out patient clinics, doctors had to see more than hundred patients a day. It was not rare for a radiologist to read several hundred exams a day. Also, the PACS teams were mandated to acquire full scale PACS capable of incorporating not only radiological images but also color images produced in other imaging departments. In order to take root in the Korean environment, the PACS in Korea had to pass through some technical modifications that included introduction of recent hardware technologies and development of new software features. This paper describes various technical aspects of PAC systems in Korea that have met difficult requirements and enabled wide spread of PAC systems to real clinical practice.