What product is affected?

ClearCanvas Workstation and ImageServer versions: v5.0, v6.0, v6.1, v6.2, v6.2 SP1, v7.0, v7.1, v7.1 SP1, v8.0, v9.0

What is the issue?

When users create PDF attachments using the ClearCanvas Workstation (all Editions), the dicom file generated may not be DICOM compliant. In some cases, the length for one of the tags in the file is odd though the DICOM standard requires all values shall be even in length and padded with an extra zero-byte or space if necessary. As a result, users may not be able to retrieve or open studies with non-compliant attachments on DICOM devices manufactured by other vendors.

ClearCanvas software is able to open these non-compliant files.

The problem will not pose any risk to the safety of patients or users.

A workaround for viewing these files would be to open the attachment using ClearCanvas software. If necessary, the file can be resaved from the PDF viewer as a PDF to the filesystem and distributed from there.

What is the scope of this issue?

There is a defect in the DICOM Toolkit that it does not pad the length of odd length tag values when encapsulating certain binary data like PDF documents.

All DICOM encapsulated PDF documents generated by the Workstation in the specified versions have a chance of being odd and thus affected. If the encapsulated PDF documents are only opened via ClearCanvas products, users may not observe a problem. However, if these attachments are sent to other DICOM devices they may be unusable if the receiving device is strict about only attempting to open even length values. Though these files are only generated in the Workstation they will almost certainly be stored on or sent to other systems.

Have people actually been affected by this issue?

A customer reported the problem, describing intermittent problems sending encapsulated PDF files to a third party DICOM device.

What is ClearCanvas doing to address this issue?

We are working on hot fixes for the most recent release of most of our product lines. We will also release a tool that will allow customers to correct any non-compliant encapsulated PDF files that are already stored on their ClearCanvas systems.

Hot fixes will be released for

• ClearCanvas RIS/PACS 9.0 Team
• ClearCanvas PACS 6.2 SP1 Team
• ClearCanvas Workstation 8.0 miniPACS (Sharestation)
• ClearCanvas Workstation 8.0 Gateway (ShareAgent)
• ClearCanvas PACS 6.0 Veterinary Team (DigitalVet)

Customers with these products should contact their VARs for the fix.

An update to ClearCanvas Workstation 7.X Personal Editions will be released subsequently. Customers who purchased the Personal Edition and are eligible to receive updates will be able to download the update, run the installer to upgrade their installation, and re-enter their purchased license key.

Corrective Action Timelines

We expect to release these fixes and updates in May 2013.

What do I need to do?

• Determine whether you have any situations where you are generating PDF files (e.g. PDF attachments, RIS reports). If your site uses this functionality, consider extracting PDF documents to PDF files when you are distributing them outside the site.
• If other sites already have studies that are non-conformant, they could install the ClearCanvas Workstation Personal Edition available on our website for 30-day trial with Premium features and ongoing use of basic features (which includes viewing PDF attachments)
• When it becomes available, install the appropriate fix or update for your system so it produces compliant files consistently.

If you have any questions, please email us at