Importing from DICOM files

If you are using linux, or for Windows if you have put C:\Python27\;C:\Python27\Lib\site-packages;C:\Python27\Scripts onto your system path, you should be able to import from the command line:

Radiation Dose Structured Reports

openrem_rdsr.py filename.dcm

You can use wildcards to process a number of files at once, ie:

openrem_rdsr.py *.dcm

For mammography DICOM images

openrem_mg.py filename.dcm

The facility for extracting dose information from mammography DICOM images has been designed and tested with images created with the GE Senographe DS. It has now also been used with the images generated by the following systems:

  • GE Senographe Essential
  • Hologic Selenia
  • Siemens Inspiration

For radiographic DICOM images

openrem_dx.py filename.dcm

For CT dose summary files from Philips CT scanners

openrem_ctphilips.py filename.dcm

This extractor makes use of the information stored in the header data of the Philips Secondary Capture object with a series description of ‘Dose Info’. The value inserted into ‘Study description’ in the OpenREM database is actually taken from the Protocol field. The value in Study description is inserted into the study level comment field in the database, along with the protocol file name and any ‘comments on radiation dose’.

For CT dose summary files from older Toshiba CT scanners

openrem_cttoshiba.py path_to_files

This extractor is designed to create a DICOM radiation dose structured report from the information contained in secondary capture dose summary images, supplemented by data stored in image tags. It requires a folder of DICOM objects as input (suitable data can be retrieved from a DICOM node using the qrscu.py command with the -toshiba switch - see Query-retrieve using the command line interface). It creates an initial RDSR from the secondary capture dose summary, and then tries to enrich this with additional information contained in image tags. The routine attempts to extract the following information from the image tags and insert it into the initial RDSR:

Study-level information

  • Study description
  • Requested procedure description
  • Software versions
  • Device serial number

Series-level information

  • Protocol name
  • Exposure time (per rotation)
  • kVp
  • Spiral pitch factor
  • Nominal total collimation width
  • Nominal single collimation width
  • Exposure modulation type

The routine was developed for older Toshiba CT scanners that cannot create RDSR objects themselves. It is known to work with:

  • Toshiba CX, software version V4.40ER011
  • Toshiba CXL, software version V4.51ER014
  • Toshiba CXL, software version V4.86ER008 (this software version can produce RDSR objects directly, but may not populate some fields, such as requested procedure name and study description)

This extractor has also been used successfully on images from a GE LightSpeed Plus scanner, although in this case no supplementary data is extracted from image tags.