DICOM is a communication standard which was originally defined for data exchange in radiology information systems. It is maintained and expanded by working groups (WG) in order to follow new development in radiology but also to extend its usage into other clinical domains (Treichel, Gessat, Prietzel, & Burgert, 2011).
DICOM is a global information-technology standard that is used in virtually all hospitals worldwide. Its current structure, which was developed in 1993, is designed to ensure the interoperability of systems used to produce, display, send, query, store, process, retrieve, or print medical images and derived structured documents as well as to manage related workflow (DICOM, n.d.).
Physicians have better access to images and reports when DICOM standards are in place. This allows them to make a faster diagnosis, potentially from anywhere in the world. Patients can potentially obtain faster and more effective care when the DICOM standard is used to send their information through the healthcare enterprise. Payers benefit from this faster and more effective process through potentially lowered cost of care (DICOM, n.d.).
The Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) Standard describes the means of formatting and exchanging medical images and image related information to facilitate the connectivity of medical
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Patients who are getting medical imaging done are invariably under the care of multiple healthcare providers. Their medical team may consist of the primary care physician, the technician or radiologist who took the images, and one or more specialists, such as oncolologis, neurologists, or orthopedic doctors. Because DICOM can display images in standard file formats, such as JPEG and TIFF, medical information sharing is possible and can be instant, so that patients can receive more timely and informed counseling from all members of the medical team (Etiam,