OpenMed PACS

Traditional PACS archiving procedures are based on mechanical jukeboxes handling tapes or optical disks. This equipment is complex machinery and therefore is slow, expensive and unreliable. OpenMed is designed to leverage the full potential of modern, high capacity; fault-tolerant data stores and is able to “spin” both current and archived images. As a result, OpenMed does not require any pre-fetching from traditional mechanical archive systems such as CD-R, DVD and DLT tape.

Because both current and archived images are “spinning” on hard disks, retrieval of any study is extremely fast. If the required study is within the local cache, retrieval is immediate. If the required study is archived, retrieval takes at most a few seconds. With OpenMed, all exams are online at all times. Recent studies are locally cached, uncompressed in a RAID array, (EMC Claiiron®). Older studies are compressed by FDA cleared and clinically tested compression techniques and are archived in an ultra high capacity RAIN array, (EMC Centera®). No pre-fetch or de-archive process in ever necessary with OpenMed. All images are always available immediately, by multiple physicians in various locations, all simultaneously.

Worklist support is a built-in feature in OpenMed Manager and all DICOM compatible modalities receive complete exam information and patient demographics through this channel. By definition, work list management supplies the modality with patient demographic information as well as RIS/HIS study information so the resultant study information is filed and integrated properly without requiring the technologist to enter any data manually. OpenMed requires compliance with DICOM 3.0 for out-of-the-box connectivity. Non-DICOM compliant modalities can be connected to OpenMed through appropriate conversion software if some kind of digital output is available, or through DICOM converter boxes for modalities providing only analog output.

OpenMed complies with the new DICOM GSPS Standard with all products. GSPS, (Greyscale Softcopy Presentation State Standard), is the new DICOM standard for softcopy presentation that ensures consistent image presentation among radiologists and referring clinicians. Window leveling, zoom, annotations, etc. that are made by one clinician at one location are available to all other clinicians via any OpenMed viewer product as well as any GSPSS compliant workstation from any vendor.