Normally, the organs and tissues inside the human body are invisible to the naked eye. In ancient times, famous doctors such as Bian Que and Hua Tuo diagnosed the internal causes of patients' illnesses through "observation, listening, questioning, and palpation." This was the most "advanced" diagnostic method of that era.
One day in 1816 AD, the French doctor René Laennec was walking in the street when he happened to see some children tapping one end of a wooden stick with a large nail, while others listened to the sound by placing their ears on the other end. This gave Dr. Laennec a great inspiration. When he returned home, he immediately had someone make a hollow wooden tube, which was the first stethoscope in human history. Later, the stethoscope was widely used in cardiology and obstetrics and gynecology.
In modern times, doctors no longer rely solely on stethoscopes to observe the condition of patients' bodies. On January 5, 1895, the German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen accidentally discovered X-rays while conducting an experiment. This discovery revolutionized medicine. With the advancement of medical imaging technology, medical imaging has become the fastest-growing discipline in clinical medicine. From X-ray examinations to ultrasound, CT, and MRI, doctors use these technologies to more thoroughly "investigate" the pathological conditions inside the human body.
Data Fusion Master——PACS System
The advent of medical imaging equipment has made medical imaging examinations increasingly important in the diagnosis and treatment work of medical institutions. Traditional medical image management methods have resulted in the accumulation of films, images, and data, creating mountains of materials and making searching and retrieval difficult. Hospitals frequently lose films and data.
With the development of database technology and computer communication technology, digital image transmission and electronic films have emerged. Many hospitals have undertaken hospital informatization reforms. As imaging equipment gradually becomes digital and the internet matures, filmless radiology departments and digital hospitals have become a reality. In order to unify the storage and management of the informatized data from different medical imaging equipment, the PACS system, a master of data fusion from various platforms, was born.
PACS stands for Picture Archiving and Communication System. Its main task is to digitally store a large amount of various medical images generated daily (including images from MRI, CT, ultrasound, various X-ray machines, various infrared instruments, microscopes, etc.) through various interfaces (analog, DICOM, network). When doctors need them, it acts like a butler, quickly retrieving and providing the data, perfectly acting as a lubricant between various instruments.
A complete PACS system mainly consists of three aspects: image acquisition, data transmission and storage, and image analysis and processing.
There are three main methods for image acquisition: pure digital acquisition, video acquisition, and film scanning.
In terms of information storage, the PACS system uses two different methods to store structured and unstructured data separately. Databases are used to manage structured data such as patient information, while file systems are used to manage unstructured data such as image data.
In addition, since medical image data files are often large, a conventional CT scan is on the order of 10MB, an X-ray chest film can be up to 20MB, and cardiovascular angiography images can reach over 80MB. Traditional methods generally use servers and optical discs for storage, which is relatively rigid and difficult to expand functionality. However, the emerging cloud computing and cloud storage technology has features such as fast data retrieval, network sharing, and application expansion. Combining this with the PACS system will be a major direction for future image storage.
The principle is also simple: hospitals deploy the PACS system to a third-party cloud platform, and through the cloud platform's distributed, load-balanced cluster system, they achieve 24/7 image storage. The establishment of the cloud platform can also achieve cross-platform, multi-terminal, PC, and mobile device integration, thus completely realizing paperless, disc-less, and film-less imaging.
This new model not only improves the work efficiency and quality of each doctor but also enriches the collaborative work scenarios for doctors. In addition, hospitals no longer need to spend a lot of money buying servers, thus reducing cumbersome post-maintenance and expansion to save costs.
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