DICOM

Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) is a standard for handling, storing, printing, and transmitting information in medical imaging. It includes a file format definition and a network . The communication protocol is an application protocol that uses TCP/IP to communicate between systems. DICOM files can be exchanged between two entities that are capable of receiving image and patient data in DICOM format. The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) holds the copyright to this standard. It was developed by the DICOM Standards Committee, whose members are also partly members of NEMA.

DICOM enables the integration of medical imaging devices – like scanners, servers, workstations, printers, network hardware, and picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) – from multiple manufacturers. The different devices come with DICOM Conformance Statements which clearly state which DICOM classes they support. DICOM has been widely adopted by hospitals and is making inroads in smaller applications like dentists' and doctors' offices.

DICOM is known as NEMA standard PS3, and as ISO standard 12052:2006 "Health informatics -- Digital imaging and communication in medicine (DICOM) including workflow and data management".

DICOM is used worldwide to store, exchange, and transmit medical images. DICOM has been central to the development of modern radiological imaging: DICOM incorporates standards for imaging modalities such as radiography, ultrasonography, computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and radiation therapy. DICOM includes protocols for image exchange (e.g., via portable media such as DVDs), image compression, 3-D visualization, image presentation, and results reporting.

The DICOM standard is divided into related but independent parts. The links below are to the chunked HTML representation of the current version; as the standard is updated the content at these links remains valid. Alternative formats as well as the DocBook source of the standard text, and additions to the standard (Supplements and Change Proposals), are available through the DICOM Web site and are also indexed on the DICOM status page.

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