As Radiology becomes more invested in direct digital imaging techniques, the potential for moving these images throughout the department, interpreting them directly in digital mode and archiving them in computer form is a topic of high current interest. A fundamental consideration is the amount of digital data to be handled. Even the low and medium resolution images now handled in digital mode require immense amounts of digital storage space. The first quantification of the amount of digital data was by Dwyer, et al, in a report concerning the workload in a 614-bed hospital. Their assumptions and calculations are reviewed and applied to the workload data from a 1082-bed hospital. Storage requirements for PET and MRI workload are calculated, and an estimate of digital radiography data is presented. The digitization of plain film radiographs will virtually increase the storage requirements by a factor of 10.

Date Published: 12 June 1986
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 0626, Application of Optical Instrumentation in Medicine XIV and Picture Archiving and Communication Systems, (12 June 1986); doi: 10.1117/12.975464

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 0626:
Application of Optical Instrumentation in Medicine XIV and Picture Archiving and Communication Systems
Samuel J. Dwyer III; Roger H. Schneider, Editor(s)