A system is provided wherein data processing devices are connected to a high-speed picture archiving and communications system (PACS) server network that archives and transmits medical image data. As part of a diagnostic process, medical images are processed at the data processing devices and image processing parameter (IPP) sets are created. The image processing parameters are attached to image diagnosis reports and can be used to recreate the processing of key images that are referenced in the image diagnosis reports. Users of the diagnostic reports can send the IPP sets to the PACS server network to recreate and retrieve key diagnostic images. The image data can be compressed for transmission over low bandwidth networks.