- Published: January 8, 2022
- Updated: January 8, 2022
- Level: College Admission
- Language: English
- Downloads: 18
The Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM)
DICOM refers to a network of protocol that is used in the medical field to transmit medical images and other accompanying information. DICOM standards are developed for the support of the manufactures and the users of such medical equipment. 1The standards entail the required guidelines of handling, storing, and transmission of medical imaging, as well as their printing. 2 These standards keep changing every now and then, with the discovery of new medical practices and needs. Consequently, the future of DICOM standards is dynamic. Therefore, as the advances in technology and medical needs occur, they create a need for new items and procedures that will perfectly suit these new developments. With such needs, then, changes in the DICOM standards are inevitable, since the standards have to accommodate the new items and procedure requirements. For example, there is a need to have medical imaging objects that will support CT objects, as well as allow the visualization of such images in three dimensions. 2Since the medical imaging is changing towards multidimensional visualization, then, it is unavoidable for the Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) standards to follow suit and accommodate these changes. These changes in DICOM standards are likely to affect the equipment that are used presently in the medical imaging practice, by requiring such items to be replaced with the ones that accommodate the multi-dimensional visualization. 1 The future of these standards points to a requirement for increased equipment integration.
Bibliography
1Bidgood, W. 1997. Controlled terminology or clinically relevant indexing and selective retrieval of biomedical images. Springer.
2National Electrical Manufacturers Association. 2006. Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) Part 1: Introduction and Overview. DIMSE Services.
