The healthcare industry has undergone major changes over the years and has greatly impacted the world. Healthcare services are adopting digital technologies in every sector.
As well, digitization has had several benefits for healthcare services. As patients and doctors feel comfortable exchanging information online, the future of healthcare is looking bright.
The DICOM system, which stands for Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine, contains images in jpeg format that are saved on a computer. It allows for image transmission in digital format.
Learn how it benefits the healthcare industry by delving deeper.
What Do You Understand by the Term DICOM?
DICOM stands for Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine and is a worldwide standard. Medical images are transmitted using this standard protocol, which can be found in many healthcare facilities. The protocol outlines methods for storing and transmitting images.
Images from medical imaging devices like X-rays and ultrasounds are based on this standard. DICOM was designed in 1985. It has evolved considerably over the years and has provided benefits to the healthcare industry. Initial revisions occurred many times before its wide acceptance in 1993.
In a database, data is stored in different formats and stored in attributes in the form of pixels and data sets. In this case, a CT Scan report shows patient names and other information in the form of images and data attributes.
ACR (American College of Radiology) and NEMA (National Electrical Manufacturers Association) developed DICOM. The DICOM standard committee governs it as a trademark of NEMA.
Health Care Services Using DICOM
In today’s healthcare sector, DICOM is used in every field. DICOM allows for the management of health care data and imaging. Medical images are stored, displayed, processed, printed, and the related workflow is processed by this system to ensure the interoperability of systems.
Imaging in medicine: DICOM is essential
As imaging technology evolved, devices needed to be able to send images and data back and forth. Another requirement is the ability to produce different types of digital images.
NEMA and ACR teamed up in 1983 to form a committee for the promotion of digital imaging information, thus enabling the expansion of PACS. In the present day, DICOM is the standard for medical image exchange. DICOM also allows different manufacturers to communicate with one another.
Standardized formats are used to store data and images. There was a problem transferring data between imaging devices because they required different formats. Despite this, physicians have been using DICOM to read and share images. It has made diagnosis and interpretation more convenient.
The DICOM format is not used by all images. Image storage is enabled by XDS-I, an extension that enables different image formats to be stored. The medical imaging system may include features that use DICOM or non-DICOM formats.
Normalized DICOM services and composite DICOM services are available. Information management services fall into this category. A separate category is database normalization.
A real-world entity, such as equipment or patient identification numbers, is accessed through these services. There are five services that DICOM offers. The management of offline storage media, network printing, network image interpretation, and imaging procedures are all part of offline storage media management.
DICOM’s advantages
Let’s take a look at DICOM’s advantages for the healthcare industry and other industries.
1. Integrating existing information technology solutions
There are sometimes incompatibility issues and improper methods for saving pathology images that are major drawbacks. In addition to PACS vendors, pathologists, and other vendors participate in the DICOM standard.
It was declared in 2010 that digital pathology would be included in the DCIM standard. By integrating digital pathology into the existing IT system, hospitals were able to continue using the existing system without sacrificing much money.
It is also possible to store pathology images with others in the same archive.