In 1987, a prospective study was done in an intensive care unit comparing a digitized-film picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) with a conventional-film management and display system. At that time a 512 X 512 X 8 bit display station was used only for about 30 of the cases. The display was upgraded to a 2560 X 2048 X 12 bit unit and a second prospective study again showed utilization for 30 of the cases. Then the image resolution was reduced to 1024 X 1024 in order to decrease the display writing time from 12 to 3.5 seconds. The user interface was also simplified. A recent prospective study showed that the display was utilized for all of the cases. For certain diagnostic categories such as ''check tube position'' it was used for primary reading while for more complicated categories such as ''rule out pneumonia'' it was used mainly for review.© (1992) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.