Hi,

 

I am trying to change a few tags in a DICOM file and save the file, after I save the file and open it to look at the Tags there are new tags and some tags are missing. This is an example of what the header file looks like before the edit and save: 

0008,0000,Identifying Group Length=364
0008,0016,SOP Class UID=1.2.840.10008.5.1.4.1.1.1.
0008,0018,SOP Instance UID=1.2.392.200046.100.2.1.1.1.20100819115617.1.1.1.
0008,0020,Study Date=20100819
0008,0021,Series Date=20100819
0008,0023,Image Date=20100819
0008,0030,Study Time=115617.000000
0008,0031,Series Time=115814.000000
0008,0033,Image Time=115814.000000
0008,0050,Accession Number=56
0008,0060,Modality=CR
0008,0070,Manufacturer=Canon Inc.
0008,0080,Institution Name=
0008,0090,Referring Physician's Name=
0008,1010,Station Name=Service690
0008,1030,Study Description=comment2this comment has return code
0008,103E,Series Description=
0008,1040,Institutional Dept. Name=
0008,1060,Name Phys(s) Read Study=
0008,1070,Operator's Name=
0008,1090,Manufacturer's Model Name=CXDI
0010,0000,Patient Group Length=72

and after the save

0002,0000,File Meta Elements Group Len=180
0002,0001,File Meta Info Version=256
0002,0002,Media Storage SOP Class UID=1.2.840.10008.5.1.4.1.1.1.
0002,0003,Media Storage SOP Inst UID=1.2.392.200046.100.2.1.1.10.20100909144455.2.1.1
0002,0010,Transfer Syntax UID=1.2.840.10008.1.2.
0002,0012,Implementation Class UID=1.3.6.1.4.1.25403.1.1.1.
0002,0013,Implementation Version Name=Dicom 0.1
0008,0016,SOP Class UID=1.2.840.10008.5.1.4.1.1.1.
0008,0018,SOP Instance UID=1.2.392.200046.100.2.1.1.10.20100909144455.2.1.1
0008,0020,Study Date=20100909
0008,0021,Series Date=20100909
0008,0023,Image Date=20100909
0008,0030,Study Time=144455.000000
0008,0031,Series Time=144510.000000
0008,0033,Image Time=144510.000000
0008,0050,Accession Number=56
0008,0060,Modality=CR
0008,0070,Manufacturer=Canon Inc.
0008,0080,Institution Name=
0008,0090,Referring Physician's Name=
0008,1010,Station Name=SEANLAPTOP
0008,1030,Study Description=comment2this comment has return code
0008,103E,Series Description=
0008,1040,Institutional Dept. Name=
0008,1060,Name Phys(s) Read Study=
0008,1070,Operator's Name=
0008,1090,Manufacturer's Model Name=CXDI

 

I just want to edit a couple of fields without changing others....

Thanks

 

Hi sriley,

These (0002,xxxx) attributes are the file's Meta Info, as described in the DICOM PS 3.10 file format. Technically, the the original file is invalid without these attributes, as they tell the reader what is in the data set and how to parse it. Creating a DICOM file without these attributes is like having a BMP file with only the pixels, and no information regarding the format of the BMP (24 bits? 32 bits?...). You would thus need some external mechanism to tell the reader about how to read the data set.

The Meta Info is comprised of the (0000,xxxx) (0002,xxxx) (0004,xxxx) (0006,xxxx) tags. The Data Set is the actual content, and are the tags (0008,xxxx) to (FFFF,xxxx). Thus, it looks like your original file is just a dump of attribute values from a data set. Rest assured, you have not changed the data set itself other than the values that you did edit.

Hope this clears things up!