Imaging informatics Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Imaging informatics - Term Paper Example The ways in which it enhances the imaging data is through automating, simplifying, reinventing the techniques for the description, management analysis, and the ways in which the imaging data can be preserved. In general, imaging informatics is concerned with the flow of medical images throughout the medical chain; that is, the retrieval, analysis, interpretation, exchanging, and more importantly how the information is stored. The information that is contained in the databases is inclusive of images and data from Picture Archiving and Communication System PACS (Hwang & Woo, 2003, p. 269). Imaging informatics heavily depends on radiology. This is because radiology is a field in medicine that is driven by technology and is data intensive thus it is very accommodating for imaging informatics. This explains why radiologists have become the leading practitioners in the field of imaging informatics. Imaging informatics is a field whose significance traverses through several areas in the med ical field. As has been mentioned above, PACS, or what is in full referred to as Picture Archiving and Communication System is an area in which the significance of imaging informatics is highlighted. PACS, just as the name suggests, is a system that has been developed mainly for storage purposes of medical images. PACS provides an avenue in which images can be stored at a reduced price and more to this, it promotes convenience when it comes to the accessing of images. The most fundamental feature of PACS is perhaps the fact that it has images from multiple modalities thus it has a wide range of images to compare to (Hwang & Woo, 2003, p. 269). The main reason why imaging informatics is of significance to PACS is because it eliminates the manual transmission and retrieval of image data. This is because the that have come in to being as a result of imaging informatics are transmitted digitally. According to Huang (2010, pp.219-23), the major components of PACS are a gateway of image a nd data acquisition, a PACS server and archive, and several workstations. He farther elaborates that the PACS has two types of gateway. The first type of gateway which is used for textual data is the database gateway. The second type of gateway is the image acquisition gateway which is used for the data in the form of images. It is also key to point out that the images acquired by PACS are retrieved from imaging modalities or devices and related patient data that is archived in Hospital Information Systems (HIS), and Radiology Information Systems (RIS), two areas that will be discussed later on in the paper highlighting the significance of imaging informatics. The second component as pointed out by Huang, (2010) is the PACS server and archive. After an imaging examination, the results together with the patient information which is retrieved from the HIS and the RIS via the gateways is sent to the PACS server. This is the central nervous system of the PACS and it consists of very spe cialized computer servers. Again, this component of the PACS has to subdivisions; they are, the database server and an archive system. The core functions of the database server is to receive, store, and update the information in the system. The archive system on the other hand is devoted to the short-term, long-term, and permanent storage of the information i