Picture archiving and communications system in radiotherapy.

In recent years, the use of the Picture Archiving and Communications System (PACS) has become widespread in the area of diagnostic radiology for archival, review and reporting of patient data. However, the adoption of PACS within the field of radiotherapy is still very limited, despite the fact that most radiotherapy systems now use Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) for both storage and communication. This paper discusses the challenges of integrating PACS into a radiotherapy department as a long-term archive of patient treatments. A possible solution based on a large English department is used as an example. Copyright 2010 The Royal College of Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.