Voyager PACS

Voyager PACS is a web enabled, server based PACS that provides medical images of any patient to any doctor, anytime, anywhere. Voyager PACS provides image archiving, soft copy reporting, management and distribution functionality.

The system receives images from modalities or from other sources (i.e. Teleradiology) via DICOM and stores these on the PACS Server or attached storage device. The studies can

then be viewed, reported and manipulated by the Voyager Diagnostic workstations connected to the PACS server via LAN, WAN or Internet connection.

Voyager Integrator provides seamless interfacing to the Radiology Information System (RIS) via HL7 allowing information to be shared and exchanged between the Voyager PACS and the RIS.

 

Centralized and/or Distributed Archive

The Voyager PACS can be configured with either centralized or distributed archive storage. With a centralized configuration all images are stored in a central location and can be accessed by Voyager Workstations or Web viewing applications. When a distributed archive solution is in place the images reside on the network at a number of locations with a combination of a main server archive and satellite archives. The satellite archives provide local storage for images and link to the main server for access to the global database. All sites are connected via LAN, WAN and/or Internet with all images on the network available to authorized users regardless of their location.

 

Advantages of Distributed Archives

Some of the advantages of the Voyager PACS in a distributed archive configuration include:

  • Multi-site connection of radiology practices, allowing workload
  • Network load optimization through movement of images during low usage periods, or through eliminating the need to transfer images at all between
  • Reliability – even in a low bandwidth connection environment.
  • Storage of images where they are most likely to be required for viewing and

Remote Reporting via Workstation – Preemptive/Prefetch Function

The Voyager pre-emptive/prefetch function allows radiologists who are remote from the PACS server to download studies to the workstation’s local hard drive in the background while they work. This feature results in fast and efficient high volume reporting by radiologists allowing very fast loading of diagnostic quality studies. The functionality

 

works well with low, medium and high speed bandwidth connections. The radiologists can set up a worklist of studies to download (e.g. all unreported CR). All new studies arriving at the PACS server will be transferred automatically as long as they meet the selection criteria. As soon as the first study arrives the radiologist can start reporting while downloading continues in the background. As studies are reported by the radiologist the status is updated on the main PACS server. If a study that has been downloaded no longer meets the selection criteria (e.g. it has been reported by another radiologist) it will disappear from the worklist of the remote radiologist. These safeguards prevent double reporting and allow true workload sharing. Alternatively radiologists can select specific cases from a worklist and download these cases only. On the worklist these cases will be reserved for that radiologist to prevent double reporting.

 

Web User Access

The Voyager PACS web server allows authorized users to access the images stored on the PACS. Studies can be viewed using Explorer 9 or later on a standard PC, MAC or laptop, or using other browser options) The Web server itself can be

a standalone computer connected to the PACS archive or the PACS and web servers can be combined on to the same server hardware. Authorized users can access images locally

via the LAN or remotely via WAN and Internet. Web users can perform viewing, reading, reporting and/or administration tasks. The functionality available to an individual user depends on that user’s individual privileges. Access to the Web server is by user log in and password controlled by the PACS Administrator. Remote users must have access through the firewall to the network. Network access can be via

Virtual Private Network (VPN) or by HTTPS, with security certificate verification control.