DICOM to XML / XML to DICOM

Discontinued Component

This filter has been discontinued and replaced by the DICOM XML Converter filter. While RLCs containing this filter will load into Rhapsody, the filter will be rendered both inoperable and unconfigurable. Therefore, it is recommended you update your RLC to work with the DICOM XML Converter filter.

The DICOM to XML / XML to DICOM filter transforms a DICOM message into an XML message format and vice versa. Using this filter allows easy access to DICOM message content, its modification or a mapping to another message format such as HL7.

This filter is only available on 32-bit Windows® and Linux® platforms.

DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) is a standard designed to allow medical image files to be transferred, stored and viewed on different makes of computers. A single DICOM message contains both a header (which stores information about the patient's name, the type of scan, image dimensions, etc), as well as all of the image data (which can contain information in three dimensions). Refer to the DICOM home page for details.

The DICOM to XML / XML to DICOM filter also provides a way to transform the header information into a readable text format by setting the Apply Stylesheet property to true.

DTD of XML

<!ELEMENT dicomfile (filemetainfo?, dataset)>
<!ELEMENT filemetainfo (preamble?, attr*)>
<!ELEMENT preamble (#PCDATA)>
<!ELEMENT dataset (attr*)>
<!ELEMENT attr (#PCDATA \| item)*>
<!ELEMENT item (#PCDATA \| attr)*>

<!ATTLIST attr tag CDATA #REQUIRED>
<!ATTLIST attr vr (AE \| AS \| AT \| CS \| DA \| DS \| DT \| FL \|
 FD \| IS \| LO \| LT \| OB \| OF \| OW \| PN \|
 SH \| SL \| SQ \| SS \| ST \| TM \| UI \| UL \|
 UN \| US \| UT) #IMPLIED>
<!ATTLIST attr vm CDATA #IMPLIED>
<!ATTLIST attr pos CDATA #IMPLIED>
<!ATTLIST attr len CDATA #IMPLIED>
<!ATTLIST attr name CDATA #IMPLIED>
<!ATTLIST attr src CDATA #IMPLIED>
<!ATTLIST attr hide (true \| false) "false">

<!ATTLIST item id CDATA #IMPLIED>
<!ATTLIST item len CDATA #IMPLIED>
<!ATTLIST item pos CDATA #IMPLIED>

Sample XML

<dicomfile>
    <filemetainfo>
        <preamble>0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0
                  ........................................................................
        </preamble>
        <attr tag="00020000" vr="UL" pos="132" name="Group Length" vm="1" len="4">194</attr>
        ........................................................................
        <attr tag="00020016" vr="AE" pos="322" name="Source Application Entity Title" vm="1" len="8">CLUNIE1</attr>
    </filemetainfo>
    <dataset>
        <attr tag="00080008" vr="CS" pos="338" name="Image Type" vm="4" len="36">ORIGINAL\PRIMARY\WHOLE BODY\EMISSION</attr>
        <attr tag="00080012" vr="DA" pos="382" name="Instance Creation Date" vm="1" len="8">19970911</attr>
        ........................................................................
        <attr tag="00540400" vr="SH" pos="2636" name="Image ID" vm="1" len="12">WHOLE BODY_E</attr>
        <attr tag="7FE00010" vr="OB" pos="2656" name="Pixel Data" len="-1">
            <item id="1" pos="2668" len="0"/>
            <item id="2" pos="2676" len="116051"> 
            255\216\255\195\0\11\16\4\0\1\0\1\1\17\0\
            ..........................................................................................................................
            </item>
        </attr>
    </dataset>
</dicomfile>

The 'attr' element of 'tag' attribute of '7FE00010' is 
omitted when the 'Include Image Data' property is set to false.

Sample text format output when the Apply Stylesheet property is set to true

=== File Meta Information ===
0132 (0002,0000) UL #4\* 1 \[194\] //Group Length
0144 (0002,0001) OB #2\* 1 \[0\1\] //File Meta Information Version
........................................................................
0322 (0002,0016) AE #8\* 1 \[CLUNIE1 \] //Source Application Entity Title
=== Data Set ===
0338 (0008,0008) CS #36\* 4 \[ORIGINAL\PRIMARY\WHOLE BODY\EMISSION]
//Image Type

0382 (0008,0012) DA #8\* 1 \[19970911\] //Instance Creation Date
........................................................................
2636 (0054,0400) SH #12\* 1 \[WHOLE BODY_E\] //Image ID
2656 (7FE0,0010) OB #-1 //Pixel Data
2668 >(fffe,e000) #0 \[\] //Item-1
2676 >(fffe,e000) #116051
[255\216\255\195\0\11\16\4\0\1\0\1\1\17\0\255\196\
(fffe,e0dd) #0 //Sequence Delimitation Item

*Note that the part on and after '2656 (7FE0,0010) OB #-1 
// Pixel Data' will be omitted when the
// 'Include Image Data' property is set to false.

Configuration Properties

Property	Description
Maximum Concurrency	The maximum level of concurrency for this filter. A setting of `0` (zero) means unlimited. Limiting the level of concurrency limits memory usage. Refer to Maximum Concurrency for details.
Transform Mode	Determines whether the filter is operating as a DICOM to XML converter or an XML to DICOM converter: `DICOM to XML` - (default). `XML to DICOM`.
Include Image Data	Whether to include image data into the output XML message: `True` - the XML message includes an `attr` element of tag attribute value `7FE00010` and image pixel data is included in this `attr` element value. `False` - (default). This property is enabled only if Transform Mode is set to `DICOM to XML`.
Apply Stylesheet	Whether to apply a stylesheet after the XML is generated: `True` - apply a stylesheet. The output is text format instead of XML. `False` - (default) - do not apply a stylesheet. This property is enabled only if Transform Mode is set to `DICOM to XML`.