Analysis: New cardiology imaging modalities push need for high-end PACS
As powerful modalities such as multislice CT become more common in cardiology departments, more robust -- and very high cost -- PACS are needed to manage the images. This trend is bolstering the cardiology PACS market but implementation costs could leave some smaller facilities in the cold, according to U.S. Cardiology PACS market analysis recently published by Frost & Sullivan.
   
According to the study, the ability to digitize cath and echo labs, plus the rise of CT technologies for use in cardiology, is applying increased storage demands on the current cardiology or radiology PACS many facilities are using.

Current estimates place cardiology PACS adoption among hospital cath labs between 25 to 30 percent of penetration, but because smaller hospitals have less capital to invest in new PACS they might be reluctant to implement a new cardiology PACS, the study said.

Another risk is for vendors to stop targeting the smaller facilities that could quickly lose sight of the benefits due cardiology PACS cost worries, if they are not aggressively educated about workflow management and patient care improvements.
   
If this is allowed to happen and smaller hospitals lag in implementation, the entire cardiology PACS adoption rate could slow across the board, according to the study.

Looking ahead, the major trends in cardiology PACS will be the digitization of workflow and increased overall productivity as cardiology and radiology departments are increasingly integrated through centralized systems, the study suggests.
   
For the complete analysis, please visit www.frost.com.
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