DICOM: WHAT RADIOLOGISTS NEED TO KNOW?

Abstract

In past few years, Pakistani radiologists have seen a gradual transition from non-digital imaging equipment to digital imaging equipment. This transition, beside quality improvements, has also introduced a dictionary of technical terms in radiologist’s daily practice. One of those terms - ‘DICOM’, is the most important that radiologist would need to get an overview. DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) is a standard for transferring medical images and their related information between computers. It enables imaging devices such as CT and MRI, to digitally communicate with computer systems like PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System) or any other imaging device. DICOM based standardization, which had only started a decade ago, has now become a built-in feature in imaging devices from all well reputed vendors.