Understanding presentation states

A softcopy presentation state (also known as a grayscale or color presentation state) is a record of actions that can be read by independent PACS vendors. A softcopy presentation state may have actions such as the following applied:

• Transform pixel values to more meaningful values

• Exclude the perimeters of an image to focus on key details (crop the image)

• Flip the image horizontally

• Rotate the image by 90 degree increments

• Add annotations (text descriptions)

• Add vector graphics

Benefits of softcopy presentation states

The benefits of softcopy presentation states include:

• Allow for consistent image presentation on different workstations and different vendor software.

• Allow the radiologist to capture snapshots of different approaches to the same surgical procedure.

• Allow the radiologist to collaborate with other healthcare professionals as the presentation states can be transmitted between clusters, exported to CD, or archived.