ABSTRACT
A picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) is a centralised computer-based system designed to manage healthcare images acquired as part of the examination process via digital image acquisition modalities. It provides the facility for the storage, distribution, and electronic display of the acquired images, supporting clinical diagnostics, improving the patient journey, enhancing clinical care, and allowing for more detailed treatment or follow-up planning. There are many vendors offering PACS in some form within the UK, the choice being down to the skill level of the PACS team. Deconstructed PACS are those where individual portions of the application have been selectively 'cut-away' from the whole package. While it is currently common practice for all images to be retained indefinitely, this practice is expected to change in the 2020s owing to digital archives swelling in size, along with the partial adoption of vendor neutral archives (VNAs) of which the majority contain some form of lifecycle management.
