DICOM — Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine

What Is DICOM?

DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) is the universal standard for handling, storing, printing, and transmitting medical images. Published and maintained by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), DICOM defines both a file format and a network communication protocol, ensuring that imaging equipment from any manufacturer can exchange data seamlessly.

Every DICOM file pairs the pixel data of an image with a rich set of metadata—patient demographics, study description, acquisition parameters, and institutional identifiers—wrapped in a structured header. This self-describing nature makes it possible to route, archive, and retrieve studies reliably across heterogeneous environments.

Why It Matters in Healthcare

Before DICOM, medical imaging was fragmented: each vendor used proprietary formats, making it difficult (or impossible) to view an MRI from one manufacturer on a workstation from another. DICOM solved this by establishing a lingua franca for diagnostic imaging:

• Interoperability: Any DICOM-compliant modality—CT, MRI, ultrasound, digital radiography—can send images to any DICOM-compliant PACS or viewer.
• Workflow automation: Services like Modality Worklist (MWL) and MPPS allow scheduling and status information to flow automatically between the RIS and imaging equipment.
• Structured reports: DICOM SR (Structured Reporting) enables machine-readable reports that integrate with electronic health records (EHR/HCE).
• Teleradiology: Standardized image packaging makes it possible to transmit studies securely over the internet for remote interpretation via teleradiology services.
• Long-term archiving: Because the format is vendor-neutral, images stored in DICOM remain accessible decades later, regardless of the original equipment.

How Davix Relates to DICOM

The Davix PACS/RIS is fully DICOM-compliant and supports a wide range of DICOM services, including:

• C-STORE / STOW-RS for receiving images from modalities and web-based senders.
• C-FIND / QIDO-RS for querying the archive.
• C-MOVE / WADO-RS for retrieving images to viewers or external systems.
• Modality Worklist (MWL) for pushing scheduled procedures to imaging equipment.
• MPPS for tracking exam completion status in real time.

Because Davix operates as a cloud-native platform, it also supports DICOMweb—the RESTful extension of DICOM—enabling lightweight, browser-based access to studies without the need for traditional DICOM network configuration. This makes it straightforward to integrate with HL7, FHIR, and modern hospital integration architectures.