What happens with received DICOM Images

There are different possibilities what the PMOD DICOM server can do with the received images:

• Save them in a directory structure and update the DICOMDIR file (DICOM part 10 conformant).
• Save them in a database as the original DICOM objects.
• Convert them to any of the supported image formats and save them as files, eg. as NiFTI files.
• Convert them to a JPEG file, and print a report page.

PMOD has the capability to configure different behaviors of the DICOM server. Example configurations are shown below, but many other conversions are also possible.

Saving the Images in a Database

The following configuration is recommended for all users who run a local database.

In the example the DICOM server is receiving the images in the directory C:/Pmod3.6/data/dicom/tmp, saves them in the database Pmod, and then deletes the images in the temporary directory. When a remote DICOM client queries the PMOD DICOM server for studies, it will list all the studies in the Pmod database.

Saving the Images as DICOM Part 10 Offline-Files

Alternatively, the received images can be saved in a DICOM Part 10 compliant manner. This behavior is configured as follows.

With this configuration, the images are stored in a directory hierarchy starting at Pmod3.6/data/dicom/storage. A DICOMDIR file will be maintained in the same root directory, and used to answer queries.

Note that you can use PMOD to create DICOM-compliant CDs. Just burn the DICOMDIR and the directory containing the DICOM files to a CD.

Filtering out Secondary Capture Images and Printing them

The configuration below illustrates another conversion ability.

The images are converted to JPEG (GRAPHIC), a report page is prepared (Print hard copy) and sent to the system default printer, but only if the incoming object is of type Secondary Capture (Convert SC objects only). The original DICOM files are deleted, but the JPEG images are retained in the directory Pmod3.6/data/graphic. The additional checks allow routing the SC DICOM objects to a remote DICOM server such as a PACS, and deleting the JPEG files after printing.

Applying Processing to the Images

It is possible to set up DICOM servers which immediately apply an image processing pipeline to the received images. For instance dynamic brain PET images could first be motion corrected, then a automatically a set of brain VOIs generated, the average TACs calculated and the SRTM model applied with the cerebellum TAC as the reference region. In this way, the regional set of kinetic parameters would immediately be available after the data have been received and processed.

The processing steps have to be prepared and saved in the Pipeline Processing interface. The pipeline is then set for Execute Processing as illustrated below.