In this paper, we present a result of our study on how to construct a pilot MPACS (medical hic lure archiving and communication System) based on X -Window system. The proposed MPACS Is composed of image acquisition units, image archiving and processing units, display units, and all units are Interfaced with a LAN The image management is done according to the TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) , and the dis- play system is built upon generally accepted software packages, namely the X -Window system. Also, lossless and lossy digital image compression methods were implemented and tested with X -ray and CT images.