Phased implementation of AT&T PACS at Duke University Medical Center
“Help me communicate more quickly and more effectively with referring clinicians”. This request was the driving force behind the installation of the AT&T CommView™ System at Duke. The CommView System is a type of Digital Image Management System and Picture Archival Communication System whose chief purpose is to deliver interpreted diagnostic images to referring clinicians and attending physicians. The system acquires electronic images from modalities in a diagnostic imaging facility, stores these images in computer managed patient files and distributes these on demand over fiber optic cable to Display Consoles. The CommView System was designed at AT&T Bell Labs? it uses fiber optic ribbon cable between buildings fused to multistrand lightguide building cables to distribute images, typically around a medical center or campus at data transfer rates of 40 Mbps. This paper gives the rationale used in designing a start-up network and placing the initial equipment for a field trial of the AT&T CommView System in the Radiology Department of Duke University Medical Center. © 1986 SPIE.