Pianykh O.S. Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM). A Practical Introduction and Survival Guide

Springer, 2012. — 422 p.Unlike healthcare standards such as HL7, the DICOM standard is not as well known or understood by IT professionals. On one hand, DICOM stands and delivers on the promise of interoperability and cost effectiveness. On the other hand, it requires some tweaking to work. DICOM planning and implementation errors are common, often resulting in operational nightmares. Given that digital medicine and PACS require a substantial investment and are critical, getting the DICOM part right up front is essential.
Frequently overlooked is the impact of DICOM and PACS on the actual patient. DICOM drives clinical workfl ow from the moment a patient enters Radiology, collecting important imaging data from the digital modality and delivering it to the radiologist in the most accurate and diagnostically complete form within minutes. Comparing previous studies with the current study is effortless with DICOM, resulting in more skillful diagnosis and treatment. No fi lm to lose, misplace, under- or overexpose, and fewer repeated studies – all add up to faster and vastly improved healthcare. DICOM is benefi cial to the patient, provider, and the facility; and IT professionals owe it to them to get it right. The importance of DICOM as a working, integral part of the IT infrastructure will continue to expand. The number of present and available DICOM and PACS applications is staggering. Selecting the PACS right for you becomes more challenging with each passing year and a good understanding of DICOM is now essential.
Without a basic and practical understanding of DICOM you risk making embarrassing mistakes in such areas as security, equipment specifi cation, capacity planning, network confi guration, and disaster recovery/continuity of operations.
The built-in security of DICOM is not going to be adequate to address HIPAA requirements and will need to be augmented. The various modalities have different image resolutions, which affect choice of viewing monitors. DICOM supports several image compression technologies. The tradeoff between image sizing and quality will affect equipment sizing and network bandwidth requirements. The DICOM connectivity model is still very much static IP centric. Remote access through VPN needs to be carefully planned. The complexity and interactions of all of the above are interrelated and can make upgrades difficult. The aspect of disaster recovery and continuity of operations emerge as so technically challenging that they are frequently ignored. The practical way of dealing with these issues begins with an understanding of DICOM.
In the following pages you will not have to wade and sift through volumes of technical specifications to get the knowledge you need. Consider it your one-stopshopping experience for a good understanding of DICOM.Introduction to DICOM
What Is DICOM?
How Does DICOM Work?
Where Do You Get DICOM from?
DICOM and Clinical Data
Brief History of DICOM
Parlez-vous DICOM?
Medical Images in DICOM
DICOM Communications
DICOM SOPs: Basic
DICOM SOPs: Beyond Basic
DICOM Associations
DICOM Media and Security
DICOM Media: Files, Folders, and DICOMDIRs
DICOM Security
Incompatibility of Compatible
Advanced Topics
DICOM and Teleradiology
Standards and System Integration in Digital Medicine
Disaster PACS Planning and Management
DICOM Applications: Usual and Not
DICOM Software Development
DICOM Implementation Plans
DICOM FAQs