PACS Picture Archiving & Communications System)

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

IT Training Department, Victoria House, QAH - www.porthosp.nhs.uk/it-training PACS v1 .1 For help or assistance call 02392 286685

1

PACS (Picture Archiving &

Communications System)

Double click on the Sectra PACS icon on your desktop.

Select Start IDS7 link.

Enter your network (NT) username and password then click OK.

The Information Window gives you an overview of everything in the PACS System. You can search for patients, read requests and reports.

Menu Bar – commands are available on the menus.

Toolbar – the configurable toolbar contains buttons for the most commonly used commands.

Worklist Tree – all available worklists are displayed by system, role and user levels (individual users can create their own User worklists).

Patient List – all patients in the selected worklist are displayed here. This can be sorted and filtered.

Examination List (Patient History) – all examinations for the selected patient are displayed here, to open one simply double click .

Thumbnail List – the images in the selected examination are shown as thumbnail images here, double click a thumbnail to open it.

Toolbar Alerts – information, warning and errors are displayed here.

Request View – displays scanned request.

Report View – Radiological report will be displayed here.

Minimise – you can minimise panes in the information window such as the worklist tree or thumbnail list by clicking the arrows, you can also adjust the size of each pane by dragging the split bars.

Log In Procedure for PACS

Information Window

TIP! To reset window

layout, click

Window > Reset

Window Layout

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


2



You can search for a patient in PACS by either sorting or filtering a Worklist by any of the column headings:

or…

Selecting the Search toolbar button, this will bring up a Search for examinations pane bottom left of the screen.

Use the search parameter fields to find your patient. Once they appear in the list simply click to select them, then select the examination from the Patient History pane or images from the Thumbnail List..

On the left hand side of your screen you will see the Worklist Tree.

To see the options available in the Worklist folders, click the relevant symbol.

Users will be able to create their own worklists in the User Worklists folder. There are two options available:

Dynamic – a constantly updating list of patients or examination data based on your specified criteria.

Static – generally used as personal/teaching folders (not dynamic).

To create a Dynamic Worklist, right click on the User Worklists folder and select the New Worklist… option.

This window will appear allowing you to name and set the criteria for your dynamic worklist.

You can create a Static Worklist in a similar way, instead selecting the New Static Worklist… option.

This window will appear for you to name your static worklist, once created simply drag and drop the items you want in here.

Searching for a Patient

Creating User Worklists

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


3



To view images in PACS, you can either:

Select the Images button.

Double click on an examination for your patient.

Double click one of the thumbnail images

This will open the Image Window:

There are various ways that you can view images on screen in PACS:

Left mouse hold – move image around screen as required.

Scroll mouse wheel or both left & right mouse hold & drag – move through stacked images.

o Small image in bottom right hand corner – the yellow line shows the section displayed in the image.

Opening the Image Window

Viewing Images

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


4



Middle mouse click & hold or ‘w’ on keyboard – Window level / Contrast.

Right mouse click – image context menu, this includes Zoom, Crop, Orientation, Annotate, Synchronisation, etc.

Monitor Partitioning – from the View menu, will allow you to select how you would like your monitor(s) partitioned.

One of the benefits of this is that you can display multiple views for a direct comparison or choose to remove the partitioning for a larger image display.

MPR (multiplanar reconstruction) enables you to view image data from any viewpoint without having to rescan the patient.

Image window menu and toolbar

Reference Views – the colour of the reference lines corresponds to the colour of the orientation indicator.

Result View

Toolbox – most commonly used commands.

Image pop-up menu – all commands for a view.

Viewing Images (continued)

Using MPR

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


5



Search for your patient in the Search screen

This will present you with a list of examinations for your patient that are on the Sectra PACS system

To see the full patient imaging history use the Extended search button

After extending your search you will see one entry for the request

…and one further entry which contains the images.

Highlight the image line and right click and select Import which will bring your images from off line storage to on line storage

After a short period double click on the entry for the request and the image window and image will appear.

Extended Search

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


6



We can currently view Southampton, Salisbury and the Isle of

Wight PACS systems. Please be aware when performing this

search you are viewing the other trusts PACS. The PHT PACS

team does not have any control over the images or data stored on

these systems.

If you wish to simply view another trusts PACS please follow

the steps below. If you want to compare PHT images with

images from another trust for a patient please follow steps

1 – 10 then jump to step 14 when prompted.

1) Make sure the “Search” window is open in the bottom left of

the PACS screen (shown below). If it is not then

click the Search button from the toolbar at the top of

the screen.

2) Click the “Advanced Search” button (circled above)

3) The last search you performed will appear in the “Search

condition” box. Match the screen you see to the options below

then proceed to the instruction number provided.

4) Click “New Condition” (Circled in red below), then go to

instruction 6

5) Select the condition and click “Edit” (circled in blue above)

6) Select “Patient name” in the “Property:” drop down, select

“contains” in the “Relation:” drop down and type the name of

the patient you are looking for in the “Value:” box. (in the

format: SURNAME, FIRSTNAME) then click “OK”

Advanced Search on Sectra PACS to view other Trusts images

>If there are no conditions go to no.4

>If there is one condition go to no.5

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


7



7) You should have a screen like below:

If you know the Date of Birth of the patient it is strongly

recommended to also include this in the search. If you do not

know it, proceed to number 11.

8) Click “New Condition” (circled in red above)

9) Select “Date of birth” in the “Property:” drop down box, enter

the DOB in “Value:” then click OK

10) You should have a screen like below:

Please note: If you plan to compare images between PHT and

another trust for a patient please go to number 14. If you are just

browsing another trust PACS please carry on.

11) Click the “Servers” button (circled in red above)

12) Remove any ticks currently in the boxes. Put a tick in the first

column only for the trust you want to view. “UHS WISE

Server” is Southampton, “SIOW WISE Server” is the Isle of

Wight and ”SFT WISE Server” is Salisbury. Then click “OK”

This is for Southampton

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


8



13) Click “Search” (circled below). The results will show the same

way as doing a normal search on PACS, you can select the

patient, open images and view the report in the same way.

PLEASE ONLY READ ON IF YOU WISH TO KNOW HOW TO

COMPARE PHT IMAGES WITH IMAGES FROM ANOTHER

HOSPITAL

14) Click the “Servers” button (circled right)

15) Remove the tick in the right hand clumn. Leave “PHT WISE

Server” ticked, then also tick the left hand box for the trust

you want to compare images with. “UHS WISE Server” is

Southampton, “SIOW WISE Server” is the Isle of Wight, and

”SFT WISE Server” is Salisbury. Then click “OK”. Example

shown is for

comparing

Portsmouth with

Southampton

16) Click “Search”

17) If there are images to compare you should see two entries for

the patient. One with a patient ID starting with “RHU” for

Portsmouth and another with either “RHM” for Southampton or

“IW” for the Isle of Wight or “RNZ” for Salisbury

18) Highlight one of the patients, hold down the Control key on the

keyboard then select the other. Right click on either exam and

select “Merge Patients”

This will combine all exams across both records. PACS

can then be used in the normal way.

The merge of these patients is only

temporary and only for your account.

The link will be broken when you log

out. If anyone else (at any of the

trusts) looks at one of the patients

they will only see the local record.

Documents

PACS Picture Archiving & Communications System)