PACS accessories market aims to ease workflow

In the fashion world, it's often said that accessories make the outfit. The same may be true for PACS, where accessories such as CD/DVD burners, imagers, digitizers, connectivity offerings, routing modules, and even PACS-specific furniture can enable users to glean maximum value from their investment.

CDs and DVDs are an effective and inexpensive means for providing patients and physicians with images and reports, and CD/DVD burner packages will be particularly plentiful on the show floor at McCormick Place this year. In a related trend, several vendors will highlight their ability to import images and information stored on those disks onto the PACS network, easing the challenge of handling disks from outside the institution.

As usual, attendees will be able to take in a broad selection of imagers and digitizers for their printing and scanning needs. Those grappling with non-DICOM-compliant imaging modalities will also benefit from new connectivity offerings.

Booth visitors can also learn about several new routing modules that help move images where they need to be, handling prefetching and autorouting tasks. Also on hand in Chicago will be several PACS furniture providers, who are set to highlight the adjustability and customization features of their wares.