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Another question on DICOMDIR

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Carlos Rodriguez

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Aug 29, 2002, 1:50:59 PM8/29/02
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Hi:

Does anyone know if there is any way to identify which "SERIES"
directory records "belong" to a particular "STUDY" directory record?
If I was parsing the DICOMDIR file by hand, I guess I would use the
LowerLevelDirectoryOffset and the NextDirectoryRecordOffset to
navigate "downwards and "sideways
". so to speak. However, the java libraries that I am using to read
the DICOMDIR basically allow me to get the DirectoryRecordSequence as
a flat sequence. I can determine which ones are "SERIES", "PATIENT",
so on and so forth, but I don't think I can trust the ordering to make
sense of the hierarchy, can I? In other words, if, in the sequence, I
find a series record right after a study record, can I reasonably
assume the series belongs to that study?

Thanks in advance for your help.

-Carlos Rodriguez
Senior Software Engineer
Wellogic

Andrew Hewett

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Aug 30, 2002, 2:50:14 AM8/30/02
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"Carlos Rodriguez" <buzz...@employees.org> wrote in message
news:8d13b658.02082...@posting.google.com...

> Hi:
>
> Does anyone know if there is any way to identify which "SERIES"
> directory records "belong" to a particular "STUDY" directory record?
> If I was parsing the DICOMDIR file by hand, I guess I would use the
> LowerLevelDirectoryOffset and the NextDirectoryRecordOffset to
> navigate "downwards and "sideways
> ". so to speak. However, the java libraries that I am using to read
> the DICOMDIR basically allow me to get the DirectoryRecordSequence as
> a flat sequence. I can determine which ones are "SERIES", "PATIENT",
> so on and so forth, but I don't think I can trust the ordering to make
> sense of the hierarchy, can I? In other words, if, in the sequence, I
> find a series record right after a study record, can I reasonably
> assume the series belongs to that study?
>

Hello Carolos,

The order of records within the DirectoryRecordSequence is not significant.
Many applications do group all the records in a kind of depth-first tree
traversal
of patient/study/series/instance.

Nevertheless, it would be perfectly legal to first see all the IMAGE records,
then
all the SERIES records, and so on. It would also be legal for the records to be
ordered randomly.

Your guess is correct. You need to use the LowerLevelDirectoryOffset
and NextDirectoryRecordOffset attributes to reconstruct the
patient/study/series/instance hierarchy.

Regards,
Andrew

--
Andrew Hewett, PhD
Siemens Medical Solutions
Software Components and Workstations (MED SW R)
Henkestr. 127, 91052 Erlangen, Germany
Tel: +49 (9131) 84-3365 Fax: +49 (9131) 84-8691
mailto:andrew...@siemens.com

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