title: Fast processing of digital imaging and communications in medicine (DICOM) metadata using multiseries DICOM format.
abstract: The digital imaging and communications in medicine (DICOM) information model combines pixel data and its metadata in a single object. There are user scenarios that only need metadata manipulation, such as deidentification and study migration. Most picture archiving and communication system use a database to store and update the metadata rather than updating the raw DICOM files themselves. The multiseries DICOM (MSD) format separates metadata from pixel data and eliminates duplicate attributes. This work promotes storing DICOM studies in MSD format to reduce the metadata processing time. A set of experiments are performed that update the metadata of a set of DICOM studies for deidentification and migration. The studies are stored in both the traditional single frame DICOM (SFD) format and the MSD format. The results show that it is faster to update studies' metadata in MSD format than in SFD format because the bulk data is separated in MSD and is not retrieved from the storage system. In addition, it is space efficient to store the deidentified studies in MSD format as it shares the same bulk data object with the original study. In summary, separation of metadata from pixel data using the MSD format provides fast metadata access and speeds up applications that process only the metadata.
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins University , Department of Computer Science, 3400 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, United States.
authors.forename: Mahmoud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ismail
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins University , Department of Radiology, 5801 Smith Avenue, McCauley Building, Suite 100, Baltimore, Maryland 21209, United States.
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Philbin
keywords: attribute coercion; deidentification; digital imaging and communications in medicine; multiseries digital imaging and communications in medicine; order reconciliation; patient information reconciliation; picture archiving and communication system, vendor neutral archive; tag morphing