diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 23aff71..78f1503 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-FROM osimis/orthanc:22.9.0-full
+FROM osimis/orthanc:23.9.2-full
 
 RUN apt-get update && ACCEPT_EULA=Y apt-get dist-upgrade -y && apt-get install -y openssl
 
@@ -9,6 +9,6 @@ RUN mkdir -p /ssl && cat /etc/ssl/private/server.key /etc/ssl/certs/server.pem
 COPY orthanc_ext /python/orthanc_ext
 WORKDIR /python
 COPY setup.py README.rst HISTORY.rst ./
-RUN pip3 install httpx .[nats-event-publisher] # does not get picked up in setup.py
+RUN pip3 install httpx .[nats-event-publisher,pyorthanc] # does not get picked up in setup.py
 RUN python3 setup.py install
 COPY tests/entry_point.py /python/entry_point.py
diff --git a/HISTORY.rst b/HISTORY.rst
index eae3680..da78362 100644
--- a/HISTORY.rst
+++ b/HISTORY.rst
@@ -2,7 +2,15 @@
 History
 =======
 
-3.3.0 (2022-01-30)
+3.5.0 (2023-10-12)
+------------------
+* Support pyOrthanc as Orthanc API client
+
+3.4.0 (2023-06-21)
+------------------
+* Improved asyncio performance
+
+3.3.0 (2023-01-30)
 ------------------
 * Publish Orthanc change events to Kafka, RabbitMQ and NATS
 * Run asyncio functions (coroutines) for concurrent processing of a change event
diff --git a/orthanc_ext/__init__.py b/orthanc_ext/__init__.py
index db9c04f..e550106 100644
--- a/orthanc_ext/__init__.py
+++ b/orthanc_ext/__init__.py
@@ -2,4 +2,4 @@
 
 __author__ = """WalkIT"""
 __email__ = 'code@walkit.nl'
-__version__ = '3.4.0'
+__version__ = '3.5.0'
diff --git a/orthanc_ext/event_dispatcher.py b/orthanc_ext/event_dispatcher.py
index 85860e1..aa95217 100644
--- a/orthanc_ext/event_dispatcher.py
+++ b/orthanc_ext/event_dispatcher.py
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@
 from dataclasses import dataclass
 
 from orthanc_ext.executor_utilities import SequentialHybridExecutor
-from orthanc_ext.http_utilities import create_internal_client, get_rest_api_base_url, \
-    get_certificate, ClientType
+from orthanc_ext.http_utilities import get_rest_api_base_url, \
+    get_certificate, OrthancClientTypeFactory, HttpxClientType
 from orthanc_ext.logging_configurator import python_logging
 from orthanc_ext.python_utilities import ensure_iterable, create_reverse_type_dict
 
@@ -67,8 +67,8 @@ def get_sync_handlers(handlers):
     return [handler for handler in handlers if not inspect.iscoroutinefunction(handler)]
 
 
-def create_session(orthanc, client_type=ClientType.SYNC):
+def create_session(orthanc, client_type: OrthancClientTypeFactory = HttpxClientType.SYNC):
     config = json.loads(orthanc.GetConfiguration())
-    return create_internal_client(
+    return client_type.create_internal_client(
         get_rest_api_base_url(config), orthanc.GenerateRestApiAuthorizationToken(),
-        get_certificate(config), client_type)
+        get_certificate(config))
diff --git a/orthanc_ext/http_utilities.py b/orthanc_ext/http_utilities.py
index 7bd2fe3..8fe69f0 100644
--- a/orthanc_ext/http_utilities.py
+++ b/orthanc_ext/http_utilities.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+from dataclasses import dataclass
 from enum import Enum
 from typing import Union
 
@@ -14,17 +15,29 @@ def get_certificate(config):
     return False if not config.get('SslEnabled', False) else config.get('SslCertificate', False)
 
 
-class ClientType(Enum):
+@dataclass
+class OrthancClientTypeFactory:
+    http_client: type
+
+    def create_internal_client(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        return create_internal_client(*args, **kwargs, client_type=self)
+
+
+class HttpxClientType(OrthancClientTypeFactory, Enum):
     SYNC = httpx.Client
     ASYNC = httpx.AsyncClient
 
 
+# deprecated, for backward compatibility
+ClientType = HttpxClientType
+
+
 def create_internal_client(
         base_url,
         token='',
         cert: Union[str, bool] = False,
-        client_type: ClientType = ClientType.SYNC) -> httpx.Client:
-    return client_type.value(
+        client_type: ClientType = HttpxClientType.SYNC):
+    return client_type.http_client(
         base_url=base_url,
         timeout=httpx.Timeout(300, connect=30),
         verify=cert,
diff --git a/orthanc_ext/pyorthanc_utilities.py b/orthanc_ext/pyorthanc_utilities.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1bc49d1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/orthanc_ext/pyorthanc_utilities.py
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+from enum import Enum
+from typing import Union
+
+import httpx
+from pyorthanc import Orthanc, AsyncOrthanc
+
+from orthanc_ext.http_utilities import OrthancClientTypeFactory
+
+
+class PyOrthancClientType(OrthancClientTypeFactory, Enum):
+    SYNC = Orthanc
+    ASYNC = AsyncOrthanc
+
+    def create_internal_client(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        return create_internal_client(*args, **kwargs, client_type=self)
+
+
+def create_internal_client(
+        base_url,
+        token='',
+        cert: Union[str, bool] = False,
+        client_type: PyOrthancClientType = PyOrthancClientType.SYNC):
+
+    # note: only difference with the httpx.Client constructor is the `base_url` positional argument.
+    return client_type.http_client(
+        base_url,
+        base_url=base_url,
+        timeout=httpx.Timeout(300, connect=30),
+        verify=cert,
+        headers={'Authorization': token})
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index 3df85ff..3bd2f85 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 [bumpversion]
-current_version = 3.4.0
+current_version = 3.5.0
 commit = True
 tag = True
 
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index c192424..054da2d 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -46,11 +46,12 @@
     extras_require={
         'nats-event-publisher': ['cloudevents', 'nats-py'],
         'kafka-event-publisher': ['cloudevents', 'aiokafka'],
-        'rabbitmq-event-publisher': ['cloudevents', 'aio-pika']
+        'rabbitmq-event-publisher': ['cloudevents', 'aio-pika'],
+        'pyorthanc': ['pyorthanc>1.0']
     },
     test_suite='tests',
     tests_require=test_requirements,
     url='https://github.com/walkIT-nl/orthanc-server-extensions',
-    version='3.4.0',
+    version='3.5.0',
     zip_safe=False,
 )
diff --git a/tests/entry_point.py b/tests/entry_point.py
index b67cdde..90bc5f9 100644
--- a/tests/entry_point.py
+++ b/tests/entry_point.py
@@ -1,13 +1,12 @@
 """Test entry point script for Orthanc Python Plugin.
 """
-
 import logging
 from functools import partial
 
 import orthanc  # NOQA provided by the plugin runtime.
 
 from orthanc_ext import event_dispatcher
-from orthanc_ext.http_utilities import ClientType
+from orthanc_ext.pyorthanc_utilities import PyOrthancClientType
 from orthanc_ext.python_utilities import pipeline
 from orthanc_ext.scripts.nats_event_publisher import create_stream, publish_to_nats, NatsConfig
 
@@ -21,7 +20,7 @@ def start_maintenance_cycle(event, _):
 
 
 def retrieve_system_info(_, client):
-    return client.get('/system').json()
+    return client.get_system()
 
 
 def show_system_info(info, _client):
@@ -30,6 +29,7 @@ def show_system_info(info, _client):
 
 
 nats_config = NatsConfig('nats://nats')
+
 event_dispatcher.register_event_handlers({
     orthanc.ChangeType.ORTHANC_STARTED: [
         partial(log_event, 'started'),
@@ -38,6 +38,6 @@ def show_system_info(info, _client):
     ],
     orthanc.ChangeType.STABLE_STUDY: [partial(publish_to_nats, nats_config)],
     orthanc.ChangeType.ORTHANC_STOPPED: partial(log_event, 'stopped')
-}, orthanc, event_dispatcher.create_session(orthanc),
+}, orthanc, event_dispatcher.create_session(orthanc, client_type=PyOrthancClientType.SYNC),
                                          event_dispatcher.create_session(
-                                             orthanc, client_type=ClientType.ASYNC))
+                                             orthanc, client_type=PyOrthancClientType.ASYNC))
diff --git a/tests/test_http_utilities.py b/tests/test_http_utilities.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..38fb059
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_http_utilities.py
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+import httpx
+
+from orthanc_ext.event_dispatcher import create_session
+from orthanc_ext.http_utilities import ClientType, HttpxClientType
+from orthanc_ext.orthanc import OrthancApiHandler
+
+
+def test_shall_create_sync_client():
+    client = HttpxClientType.SYNC.create_internal_client(base_url='http://localhost:8042')
+    assert client is not None
+    assert type(client) == httpx.Client
+
+
+def test_shall_support_create_session_for_backward_compatibility():
+    assert type(create_session(OrthancApiHandler(), ClientType.SYNC)) == httpx.Client
+
+
+def test_shall_support_create_async_client_for_backward_compatibility():
+    assert type(create_session(OrthancApiHandler(), ClientType.ASYNC)) == httpx.AsyncClient
diff --git a/tests/test_pyorthanc_utilities.py b/tests/test_pyorthanc_utilities.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e370068
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_pyorthanc_utilities.py
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+from pyorthanc import Orthanc, AsyncOrthanc
+
+from orthanc_ext.event_dispatcher import create_session
+from orthanc_ext.orthanc import OrthancApiHandler
+from orthanc_ext.pyorthanc_utilities import PyOrthancClientType
+
+
+def test_shall_create_sync_client():
+    client = PyOrthancClientType.SYNC.create_internal_client(base_url='http://localhost:8042')
+    assert client is not None
+    assert type(client) == Orthanc
+
+
+def test_shall_create_async_client():
+    client = PyOrthancClientType.ASYNC.create_internal_client(base_url='http://localhost:8042')
+    assert client is not None
+    assert type(client) == AsyncOrthanc
+
+
+def test_shall_support_create_session_for_backward_compatibility():
+    assert create_session(OrthancApiHandler(), PyOrthancClientType.SYNC) is not None
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 0e8e706..feed47f 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ python =
 setenv =
     PYTHONPATH = {toxinidir}
 deps =
-    .[nats-event-publisher, kafka-event-publisher, rabbitmq-event-publisher]
+    .[nats-event-publisher, kafka-event-publisher, rabbitmq-event-publisher, pyorthanc]
     -r{toxinidir}/requirements_dev.txt
     pytest-cov
 ; If you want to make tox run the tests with the same versions, create a