Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine
DICOM is the international standard to transmit, store, retrieve, print, process, and display medical imaging information.
About this standard
- Publisher
- DICOM
- Reference code
- ISB 1556
- Status
- Active
Show definitions of statuses
Active. Active standards are stable, maintained and have been approved, assured or endorsed for use by qualified bodies.
Deprecated Deprecated standards are available for use and are maintained, but are being phased out, so new functionality will not be added.
Retired standards Retired standards are not being maintained or supported and should not be used.
- Standard type
- Technical standards and specifications
Show definitions of standard types
Collections. A Collection is a systematic gathering of a specified selection of data or information for a particular stated purpose from existing records held within health and care systems and electronic devices.
Extractions. An extraction is a type of collection that is pulled from an operational system by the data controller and transmitted to the receiver without additional processing or transcription by the sender.
Information standards. Information standards are agreed ways of doing something, written down as a set of precise criteria so they can be used as rules, guidelines, or definitions.
Technical Standards and specifications. Technical standards and specifications specify how to make information available technically including how the data is structured and transported.
- Contact point
Link to standard
- Documentation
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Topics and care settings
- Topic
- Messaging
- Tests and diagnostics
- Care setting
- Hospital
Dependencies and related standards
- Dependencies
DICOM depends on coding standards below. Infrastructure and security standards outlined below are also profiled in the biomedical imaging environment (see Part 15).
- SNOMED CT The preferred coding system within DICOM for anatomy, clinical findings, procedures, pharmaceutical/biologic products (including contrast agents), and other clinical terms.
- LOINC Another external vocabulary referenced by DICOM; LOINC terms are extensively used in value sets and structured report templates.
- BI-RADS Terminology and reporting templates are used in DICOM Structured Reports for breast imaging.
- Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is intended for use as a reliable host-to-host protocol between hosts in packet-switched computer communication networks, and in interconnected systems of such networks. It is used by DICOM as a transport mechanism. Network Time Protocol (NTP) is also used as a part of TCP.
- Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is a stateless application-level protocol for distributed, collaborative, hypertext information systems. DICOM uses HTTP as a transport mechanism.
- Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) A network protocol DICOM uses for infrastructure management and security.
- Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) A network management protocol used by DICOM.
- Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) The Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) standard is used by DICOM for network security.
- JPEG and MPEG are recognised by DICOM as content types.
- SNOMED CT
- Related standards
The DICOM standard is incorporated in a variety of Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise imaging related integration profiles and in imaging related resources.
- Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) integration profiles
- HL7 FHIR resources Imaging-related resources from the FHIR standard are related to DICOM.
- ISO12052:2017 This standard is a normative reference to the DICOM standard.
Legal basis and endorsements
- Legal authority
Section 250 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012
This information standard is published under section 250 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012
Page last updated: 21 August 2024