DICOM Articles & Videos

The DICOM standard is complicated and different medical devices support it to different extents. A DICOM Conformance Statement is a detailed technical document accompanying most devices that outlines exactly which features of the standard are supported.

Innolitics’ DICOM Standard Browser helps users locate metadata in DICOM files. This article describes how Arjun Venkata, an intern at Innolitics, incorporated example values from DICOM files into the browser using a set of Python scripts.

The DICOM standard’s purpose is to facilitate interoperability between medical imaging systems from different vendors. The standard defines a file format for storing medical images, protocols so applications can exchange them, and a conformance format so buyers can determine which systems can (hopefully) interoperate. But perhaps most importantly, DICOM provides a standardized model of reality. This information model is the foundation on which interoperability is laid.

Available since 1995, the DICOM Toolkit (DCMTK) can be helpful to anyone working on systems that use the Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) standard. This DCMTK introduction is of interest to those exploring DICOM for the first time, as well as those familiar with it but wanting to take a renewed look at the DICOM tools landscape.