DICOM

Digital Imaging and COmmunications in Medicine 

In 1985, the American College of Radiology (ACR) and National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) published a standard which addressed the issue of vendor-independent data for mats and data transfers for digital medical images [1]. A revised version of the standard was published in 1988 [2]. In both versions, data transfer was defined for point-to-point connections, i.e., a networked environment was not considered. ACR and NEMA have recently completed the third version of the standard which has been renamed DICOM v3.0 [3].

DICOM stands for Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine. The v3.0 refers to the fact that there were two prior versions of the standard.

The Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) contracted the Washington University, Mallinkrodt Institute of Radiology to develop a version of the standard that could be used as a demonstration at the RSNA Annual Meeting in 1992. A second demonstration was held at RSNA '93. The DICOM standard was voted and passed by members of NEMA in late 1993.