Where the vendor neutral archive stands in medical imaging

Editor's note

The need for reliable storage of healthcare images is as great as ever. The use of a vendor neutral archive as a centralized location for all a provider's images was once thought to be a cure for the use of multiple picture archiving and communication systems that scattered patient images to different areas within an organization.

That notion is dissipating as more healthcare facilities decide to use VNAs and PACS together to both store and share their medical images. Those two options are no longer the only choices in the imaging game, as cloud-based hosting of data is catching on in imaging departments. Cloud isn't the only relative newcomer to the medical imaging world. 3D printing is allowing healthcare professionals such as neurosurgeons create and study unique models of brain aneurysms prior to operating on a patient.

Radiology is one medical specialty that depends on imaging systems to conduct and save their work. This guide takes a trip through the 2015 edition of the Radiological Society of North America's Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, a conference where vendors showed off their latest imaging products and systems, and healthcare professionals went to get an education on the ever-changing industry.

The following collection of podcasts, videos, news and tip stories lends insight into how PACS, healthcare VNAs and other imaging systems and tools are being used by customers. Experts also analyze how imaging technology has propelled the healthcare industry forward and what work needs to be done in the future to support radiologists and other imaging employees.