PACS: PICTURE ARCHIVING AND COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS
QUESTION BANK QUESTIONS AND ALL ANSWERS CORRECT
LATEST 2026/2027
1 What does PACS stand for? Picture Archiving and
Communication System
2 What is the primary purpose of a To acquire, store, retrieve,
PACS? distribute, and display medical
images electronically, replacing
traditional film-based radiology.
3 In what decade was PACS first PACS was first introduced
introduced clinically? clinically in the early 1980s
(approximately 1982–1983).
4 What standard protocol does DICOM (Digital Imaging and
PACS rely on for image Communications in Medicine).
communication?
5 What does RIS stand for in Radiology Information System —
relation to PACS? software that manages radiology
workflow, scheduling, and
reporting.
6 What does HIS stand for? Hospital Information System —
the overarching administrative
and clinical information system
for a hospital.
7 What is an IHE profile? Integrating the Healthcare
Enterprise — a framework
ensuring different healthcare IT
systems work together correctly
using established standards.
8 What is the main advantage of Eliminates film/chemical costs,
PACS over film-based radiology? enables simultaneous multi-site
image access, allows faster
Page 1 of 38
, retrieval, supports digital image
manipulation, and reduces
physical storage space.
9 What are the four main Image acquisition, image
components of a PACS? management/storage,
communication network, and
display workstations.
10 What does 'soft copy reading' Reading and interpreting images
mean in PACS? on a calibrated monitor rather
than viewing printed film.
11 What is a PACS broker? Middleware that routes and
translates messages between
PACS, RIS, and HIS systems.
12 What is image prefetching in Automatically retrieving prior
PACS? studies to the workstation before
the radiologist begins reading the
current study.
13 What does 'wet read' mean in A preliminary, often verbal or
radiology? informal, report given before the
formal written report is issued.
14 What is a hanging protocol? A predefined rule that
automatically arranges images
on the reading workstation in a
specific layout for efficient
interpretation.
15 What is a PACS gateway? A device or software that
connects imaging modalities to
the PACS network, often
translating protocols.
16 What does 'modality worklist' A list of scheduled patient
mean? examinations pushed from the
RIS to the imaging modality so
patient data is pre-populated.
17 What is teleradiology? The remote interpretation of
medical images transmitted
electronically over a network to a
radiologist in a different location.
Page 2 of 38
,18 What is a DICOM node? Any device on the network
capable of sending or receiving
DICOM data, identified by its AE
title and IP address.
19 What is a DICOM AE title? Application Entity title — a
unique name identifying a
DICOM application on the
network for communication
purposes.
20 What does 'filmless radiology' A radiology department that
mean? stores, manages, and displays all
images entirely in digital format
without printing film.
21 What is image routing in PACS? The process of automatically
directing images to specific
workstations, printers, or
archives based on predefined
criteria.
22 What is the role of a PACS Manages PACS infrastructure,
administrator? user accounts, system
configuration, upgrades,
backups, and troubleshooting.
23 What is a mini-PACS? A smaller, department-specific
PACS that may not be fully
integrated with the enterprise-
wide imaging system.
24 What does 'prior study Comparing a patient's current
comparison' mean? imaging study with a previously
obtained study to assess
changes over time.
25 What is a reading room in PACS A dedicated room equipped with
context? high-resolution diagnostic
workstations where radiologists
interpret images.
26 What is PACS integration? Connecting PACS with HIS, RIS,
EMR, and other clinical systems
Page 3 of 38
, for seamless patient data and
image exchange.
27 What is an image acquisition A device that receives raw
gateway? images from modalities and
forwards them formatted to the
PACS server.
28 What does 'lossless' mean in Compression where no data is
medical imaging compression? lost and the original image can
be perfectly reconstructed from
the compressed file.
29 What does 'lossy' compression Compression that permanently
mean? discards some image data to
reduce file size, potentially
affecting diagnostic quality.
30 Why is lossy compression It may permanently degrade
generally discouraged in primary diagnostically relevant image
diagnostic imaging? detail, potentially causing missed
diagnoses.
31 What does DICOM stand for? Digital Imaging and
Communications in Medicine.
32 Who maintains the DICOM NEMA (National Electrical
standard? Manufacturers Association) in
partnership with medical
professional organizations.
33 What is a DICOM SOP class? A Service-Object Pair class — a
specification combining a DICOM
service (e.g., store, retrieve) with
an information object (e.g., CT
image).
34 What is a DICOM IOD? Information Object Definition —
describes the attributes and
structure of a specific type of
imaging data object.
35 What is a DICOM tag? A 4-byte identifier expressed as
(group,element) that uniquely
Page 4 of 38
QUESTION BANK QUESTIONS AND ALL ANSWERS CORRECT
LATEST 2026/2027
1 What does PACS stand for? Picture Archiving and
Communication System
2 What is the primary purpose of a To acquire, store, retrieve,
PACS? distribute, and display medical
images electronically, replacing
traditional film-based radiology.
3 In what decade was PACS first PACS was first introduced
introduced clinically? clinically in the early 1980s
(approximately 1982–1983).
4 What standard protocol does DICOM (Digital Imaging and
PACS rely on for image Communications in Medicine).
communication?
5 What does RIS stand for in Radiology Information System —
relation to PACS? software that manages radiology
workflow, scheduling, and
reporting.
6 What does HIS stand for? Hospital Information System —
the overarching administrative
and clinical information system
for a hospital.
7 What is an IHE profile? Integrating the Healthcare
Enterprise — a framework
ensuring different healthcare IT
systems work together correctly
using established standards.
8 What is the main advantage of Eliminates film/chemical costs,
PACS over film-based radiology? enables simultaneous multi-site
image access, allows faster
Page 1 of 38
, retrieval, supports digital image
manipulation, and reduces
physical storage space.
9 What are the four main Image acquisition, image
components of a PACS? management/storage,
communication network, and
display workstations.
10 What does 'soft copy reading' Reading and interpreting images
mean in PACS? on a calibrated monitor rather
than viewing printed film.
11 What is a PACS broker? Middleware that routes and
translates messages between
PACS, RIS, and HIS systems.
12 What is image prefetching in Automatically retrieving prior
PACS? studies to the workstation before
the radiologist begins reading the
current study.
13 What does 'wet read' mean in A preliminary, often verbal or
radiology? informal, report given before the
formal written report is issued.
14 What is a hanging protocol? A predefined rule that
automatically arranges images
on the reading workstation in a
specific layout for efficient
interpretation.
15 What is a PACS gateway? A device or software that
connects imaging modalities to
the PACS network, often
translating protocols.
16 What does 'modality worklist' A list of scheduled patient
mean? examinations pushed from the
RIS to the imaging modality so
patient data is pre-populated.
17 What is teleradiology? The remote interpretation of
medical images transmitted
electronically over a network to a
radiologist in a different location.
Page 2 of 38
,18 What is a DICOM node? Any device on the network
capable of sending or receiving
DICOM data, identified by its AE
title and IP address.
19 What is a DICOM AE title? Application Entity title — a
unique name identifying a
DICOM application on the
network for communication
purposes.
20 What does 'filmless radiology' A radiology department that
mean? stores, manages, and displays all
images entirely in digital format
without printing film.
21 What is image routing in PACS? The process of automatically
directing images to specific
workstations, printers, or
archives based on predefined
criteria.
22 What is the role of a PACS Manages PACS infrastructure,
administrator? user accounts, system
configuration, upgrades,
backups, and troubleshooting.
23 What is a mini-PACS? A smaller, department-specific
PACS that may not be fully
integrated with the enterprise-
wide imaging system.
24 What does 'prior study Comparing a patient's current
comparison' mean? imaging study with a previously
obtained study to assess
changes over time.
25 What is a reading room in PACS A dedicated room equipped with
context? high-resolution diagnostic
workstations where radiologists
interpret images.
26 What is PACS integration? Connecting PACS with HIS, RIS,
EMR, and other clinical systems
Page 3 of 38
, for seamless patient data and
image exchange.
27 What is an image acquisition A device that receives raw
gateway? images from modalities and
forwards them formatted to the
PACS server.
28 What does 'lossless' mean in Compression where no data is
medical imaging compression? lost and the original image can
be perfectly reconstructed from
the compressed file.
29 What does 'lossy' compression Compression that permanently
mean? discards some image data to
reduce file size, potentially
affecting diagnostic quality.
30 Why is lossy compression It may permanently degrade
generally discouraged in primary diagnostically relevant image
diagnostic imaging? detail, potentially causing missed
diagnoses.
31 What does DICOM stand for? Digital Imaging and
Communications in Medicine.
32 Who maintains the DICOM NEMA (National Electrical
standard? Manufacturers Association) in
partnership with medical
professional organizations.
33 What is a DICOM SOP class? A Service-Object Pair class — a
specification combining a DICOM
service (e.g., store, retrieve) with
an information object (e.g., CT
image).
34 What is a DICOM IOD? Information Object Definition —
describes the attributes and
structure of a specific type of
imaging data object.
35 What is a DICOM tag? A 4-byte identifier expressed as
(group,element) that uniquely
Page 4 of 38
