By Doreen Witt
03 March 2026

Efficiently manage image data in radiology

The amount of image data generated by radiological examinations is constantly increasing - due to higher-resolution modalities, more examinations, and new fields of application such as video archiving and digital pathology. On this page, you will learn how to reduce data volumes, make better use of resources, and manage radiological image data more efficiently.

Growing amounts of data: A key challenge in radiology

Medical facilities today generate more image data than ever before. This is partly because modalities are advancing technologically and delivering higher-resolution images in less time. It is also because the number of examinations is increasing. In addition, new areas of application such as video archiving and digital pathology are leading to an increase in the amount of data to be processed.

For IT managers in hospitals and radiology practices, this means that data must continue to be audit-proof, quickly accessible, and stored for long periods of time. Many institutions have been solving this problem with increasingly larger on-premise servers - an approach that is expensive, maintenance-intensive, and requires a high level of in-house IT expertise.

The cloud as a future-proof alternative to on-premises storage

The data protection-compliant storage of radiological image data in the cloud offers a powerful alternative. Cloud archives are flexibly scalable, require no additional hardware on site, and can be connected to existing systems such as PACS, HIS, or RIS.

Legally compliant data storage in the cloud

The legal framework for cloud storage of medical data has evolved significantly in recent years:

Since June 2022, Bavarian legislation (BayKrG) has permitted the cloud storage of patient data.
Other federal states have since amended their hospital laws. Medical facilities are permitted to process image data outside the respective facility, provided that data protection requirements are met.
In conjunction with the new German Hospital Care Improvement Act (KHVVG), the German Hospital Future Act (KHZG) actively promotes the digitization of clinical processes – including cloud-based infrastructures.
For cloud providers in the healthcare sector, the BSI C5 certification is considered the security standard. Telepaxx Medical Data has this certification as well as ISO 27001 certification.

When using cloud-based archives in hospitals and medical practices to store and manage image data in a legally compliant manner, it is advisable to choose a provider that is compatible with other systems (e.g., HIS/RIS or PACS) and enables the integration of innovative additional solutions, such as AI-supported diagnosis or digital image transmission and modern diagnostic tools.

Data should also be stored in standard formats such as DICOM or PDF to ensure long-term usability and scalability.

Reducing image data storage volume: 3 tips

As a general rule, patient data should be handled carefully and sparingly. This data minimization principle is also enshrined in the GDPR. The seemingly contradictory increase in data in radiology is primarily due to higher image quality, not the storage of additional information.

Accordingly, there is potential for savings in the archiving of individual studies in order to reduce the total storage volume and use existing resources more efficiently.

Tip 1: Save DICOM images compressed

Within the DICOM standard, data can be compressed without loss – reducing storage volume by up to 50 percent.

In order to save even more data volume, the German Radiological Society defined compression factors in a consensus conference that maintain diagnostic image quality even with lossy compression and meet the requirements of the Radiation Protection Act.

Tip 2: Optimize technical image parameters

Further potential savings in reducing data volume can be achieved by adjusting three technical parameters of the images, which can be configured directly on the modalities: resolution, gray scale depth, and slice thickness.

For example, it is possible to check whether CT thin films should be stored in long-term archives or whether it is sufficient to keep them in temporary storage for a limited period of time.

Tip 3: Check the storage size of videos and multiframes

Video recordings such as Ultra HD ultrasound or multiframe images from computed tomography or angiography greatly increase storage requirements.

When renewing your equipment, it is particularly advisable to ensure in the device settings that multiframes and videos are compressed when archived.

More flexibility through cloud archives

If the data volumes are too large to archive with existing on-premise storage despite the measures taken to reduce the data volume, cloud-based archives such as that of the Telepaxx Medical Data Cloud (TMD Cloud) are an option.

Read practical example

Modern image management – How the radiology department at Questerhof optimizes its workflows in the cloud.

It can be flexibly expanded, is usually more cost-effective than purchasing your own hardware, and is also compatible with all PACS and modalities. This reduces the workload for IT department staff at medical facilities and gives them a high degree of flexibility. The TMD Cloud also offers the advantage of

that additional modules can be easily connected. Examples include a browser-based web viewer, a service component for share images via QR code or a QR code importer.

Data strategy for digital business processes

Regardless of how hospitals and radiology practices manage, store, and archive their image data, no medical facility can survive in the long term without a clear data strategy.

Data is the key raw material for AI-based diagnostic tools, research, and the development of new digital health services, for example. A strategy that keeps medical data digital, efficient, and highly available is therefore essential - only then can institutions fully exploit the potential of digitalization.