Digital imaging and communications in medicine
Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) is a standard for transmitting, storing, retrieving, printing, and sharing medical imaging. It was developed by the American College of Radiology (ACR) and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA).
History[edit | edit source]
The DICOM standard was first published in 1993, replacing an earlier standard known as ACR-NEMA Version 2. It has been widely adopted by hospitals and is making inroads into smaller applications like dentists' and doctors' offices.
Overview[edit | edit source]
DICOM enables the integration of scanners, servers, workstations, printers, and network hardware from multiple manufacturers into a Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS). The different devices come with DICOM Conformance Statements which state what optional parts of the DICOM standard they support.
Structure[edit | edit source]
DICOM is divided into services, most of which involve transmission of data over a network. The most common service is C-STORE, where one device sends images (or other data) to another device. There are also services to query (C-FIND) and retrieve (C-GET or C-MOVE) data.
File format[edit | edit source]
DICOM files typically have a .dcm file extension. They consist of a header with metadata in a fixed format, followed by image data in one of several formats.
Applications[edit | edit source]
DICOM is used worldwide to store, exchange, and transmit medical images. It is also used for the exchange of non-image data such as ECG waveforms and structured reporting.
See also[edit | edit source]
- Health Level 7
- Medical Imaging
- Radiology Information System
- Picture Archiving and Communication System
References[edit | edit source]
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Credits:Most images are courtesy of Wikimedia commons, and templates Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY SA or similar.Contributors: Prab R. Tumpati, MD