A $128,000 contract with UK-based Benenden Hospital Trust puts Guardian Technologies International Inc. in the position to begin offering its PACS technologies and services to the medical imaging community.

Guardian recently completed development of its next-generation PACS utilizing a web-based design to provide radiology patient information, image management, web-based imaging, and information distribution to the healthcare enterprise. The PACS has been implemented as an embedded set of web services in the RadWise 5 radiology information system (RIS) that Guardian acquired through Corsham, UK-based Wise Systems.

The embedded RIS/PACS architecture eliminates the need for a broker between the RIS and PACS, according to Guardian. The web-based PACS utilizes Guardian's DEVision image compression technologies, captures images and integrates them with other radiology information, making available to the healthcare enterprise a complete radiology patient record ready for distribution to care givers, Guardian said.

"Guardian's new PACS combines patient image studies and reports into a single RIS," said Jeremy Harrington, imaging manager for Benenden. "It opens the doors to teleradiology for us to better serve our patient base and accommodate more patients with our present resources. The embedded RIS/PACS will give us the ability to securely and electronically send images to our radiologists based at Medway Hospital so they can read and report on patient images within minutes around the clock."

UK Guardian Healthcare Systems, a subsidiary of Guardian Technologies, facilitated the PACS contract with Benenden Hospital.