Standards Development

Scope

Within the field of health informatics the DICOM standard addresses the exchange of digital images, and information related to the production and management of those images, between both medical imaging equipment and systems concerned with the management and communication of that information.

The DICOM standard facilitates interoperability of medical imaging equipment by specifying:

— For network communications, a set of protocols to be followed by devices claiming conformance to the DICOM standard;

— The syntax and semantics of Commands and associated information which can be exchanged using these protocols;

— For media communication, a set of media storage services to be followed by devices claiming conformance to the Standard, as well as a File Format and a medical directory structure to facilitate access to the images and related information stored on interchange media;

— Information that must be supplied with an implementation for which conformance to the DICOM standard is claimed.

The DICOM standard does not specify:

— The implementation details of any features of the DICOM standard on a device claiming conformance;

— The overall set of features and functions to be expected from a system implemented by integrating a group of devices each claiming conformance to the DICOM standard;

— A testing/validation procedure to assess an implementation's conformance to the DICOM standard.

The DICOM standard pertains to the field of Medical Informatics. Within that field, it addresses the exchange of digital information between medical imaging equipment and other systems. Because such equipment may interoperate with other medical devices and information systems, the scope of this Standard needs to overlap with other areas of medical informatics. However, this International Standard does not address the full breadth of this field.The DICOM standard has been developed with an emphasis on diagnostic medical imaging as practiced in radiology, cardiology, pathology, dentistry, ophthalmology and related disciplines, and image-based therapies such as interventional radiology, radiotherapy and surgery. However, it is also applicable to a wide range of image and non-image related information exchanged in clinical, research, veterinary, and other medical environments.

The DICOM standard facilitates interoperability of systems claiming conformance in a multi-vendor environment, but does not, by itself, guarantee interoperability.