All termsSystems
PACS
A Picture Archiving and Communication System — the central archive that stores, retrieves, and distributes medical images (CT, MRI, X-ray) along with the study metadata radiologists read from.
When to use it
Place a PACS whenever imaging studies need to be stored long-term or served to reading workstations. It is the hub most imaging integrations revolve around.
In plain terms
Think of it as the hospital's photo library: modalities deposit images, and viewers and radiologists check them out to read.
Common gotchas
- A PACS speaks DICOM, not HL7 — orders and results still travel over HL7 through the RIS or an engine.
- Query/Retrieve (C-FIND / C-MOVE) and Storage (C-STORE) are separate DICOM services; a system may support one but not the other.
- Long-term retention often moves older studies to a VNA, so "the PACS" may not hold everything.