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Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM)

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346<br />

Chapter 18 <strong>DICOM</strong> FAQs<br />

3. Can they do preload<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> how? In particular, can their server do scheduled<br />

preload<strong>in</strong>g from the remote facilities. For <strong>in</strong>stance, preload from there<br />

all today’s MR studies by 8.00 the next morn<strong>in</strong>g?<br />

4. Their licens<strong>in</strong>g terms: do they license every view<strong>in</strong>g workstation, or can<br />

they give you a better server-based license, preferably based on concurrent<br />

users? The latter means that you will be pay<strong>in</strong>g licens<strong>in</strong>g fees only for<br />

the currently active users, <strong>and</strong> not for their total number. You could have<br />

100 teleradiology clients attached to your PACS server, but only 10 at most<br />

will be active at any time. With concurrent licens<strong>in</strong>g, you pay for only ten<br />

licenses.<br />

5. Their references from teleradiology practices that use their system.<br />

It also does not hurt to ask your questions <strong>in</strong> a more def<strong>in</strong>ed form, such as “Can<br />

I use your product <strong>in</strong> Israel to read the images from a US-based hospital?”<br />

18.2.7<br />

How Fast Can You Transfer the Images?<br />

“Very fast, certa<strong>in</strong>ly!” Just kidd<strong>in</strong>g.<br />

Once aga<strong>in</strong>, there is only one way that your PACS company can <strong>in</strong>fluence<br />

<strong>DICOM</strong> image transfer rates <strong>and</strong> that’s by us<strong>in</strong>g image compression. So please<br />

look at 6.2 <strong>and</strong> ask them <strong>in</strong>stead what compression types (Transfer Syntaxes)<br />

they use, <strong>and</strong> what compression ratios they achieve.<br />

The rest depends on the speed of your network, or to be more precise, on<br />

the slowest l<strong>in</strong>k with<strong>in</strong> your network. For example, uncompressed CT images<br />

take:<br />

512×512×2 bytes = 521×512×16 bits<br />

If you have a T1 l<strong>in</strong>e, it transfers at a speed of 1.5 Mbs, <strong>and</strong> it will take:<br />

(512×512×16)/(1.5 Mbs) = 3 seconds<br />

per CT image to transmit. Apart from reduc<strong>in</strong>g the image size with compression,<br />

there is noth<strong>in</strong>g else your PACS company can do with this formula.<br />

18.2.8<br />

How Much Data Can I Store <strong>in</strong> Your PACS?<br />

This is another question that has noth<strong>in</strong>g to do with the PACS. You will always<br />

store as much data as your hardware can h<strong>and</strong>le; that is, as much as the<br />

size of your hard drive(s). If you run out of hard drive space, you will need to<br />

consider:

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