Veterinary practices can range in size from a mobile pickup or van all the way to a huge animal hospital. For small to large practices and everything in between, you are going to need diagnostic tools, such as vet digital x-ray, which can be scaled to fit your particular practice's needs. The good news is that there are veterinary x-ray systems available sized and priced to meet the needs of every veterinary medical facility.

There are mobile vet x-ray units that can comfortably fit in your van or truck. These systems may be your single digital x-ray tool, or may comprise a part of your full digital imaging suite. In any event, the mobile systems allow you to get the necessary digital x-rays out wherever your patients are located. This puts less stress on the animals, and many times may be the only way to get the diagnostic images that you rely upon for excellent patient care.

Mobile veterinary digital x-ray systems are also compatible with your in-office radiology equipment. This is due to the fact that the equipment either translates into or reads DICOM medical digital imaging format, making all the separate components of your vet x-ray system compatible with one another, which saves money because you only need to get what you will use. Furthermore, if you happen to have a film x-ray system already in place, you can use CR or DR digital imaging parts to turn your film imaging system into a digital medical image system, which saves your budget a great deal of money.

You can use a PACS system as an integral part of your veterinary x-ray suite. The PACS allows you to archive, send and receive, as well as view your DICOM images. Even if you have a mobile imaging setup, you can use a laptop computer with wireless Internet access to send digital images you take out in the field back to your home office. You can also store your DICOM images to CD or DVD, or place them securely in a server. The server can be sized to meet your clinic's needs both now and in the future with storage upgrades as necessary.

Mini-PACS systems make a great alternative for a full PACS. If you have a smaller practice, this offers a more affordable way to utilize all of the important capabilities inherent in the full PACS, but at a fraction of the price.