How to format Patient Name display in dcm4chee-web3 (removing carets '^')
Washington Cavalcante
Hello everyone,
I am using dcm4chee 2.x with the dcm4chee-web3 interface. I notice that when searching for patients, their names are displayed in the raw DICOM format with carets, for example: WASHINGTON^CAVALCANTE^COSTA.
Is there a configuration or property file in this version to format the display properly so it shows as a regular name (e.g., "Washington Cavalcante Costa") instead of showing the DICOM separators?
Thank you in advance for your help!
Alejandro Bepmale
Hello!
I completely understand why you would want to clean up that display—seeing raw ^ separators isn't exactly the most user-friendly experience for doctors or administrators. However, to give it to you straight: no, there is no out-of-the-box configuration or property file in dcm4chee 2.x or the dcm4chee-web3 interface to hide or format those DICOM carets.
Why it displays this way
The dcm4chee-web3 interface is built using the Apache Wicket framework, and it is designed to display the DICOM attributes exactly as they are stored in the backend database. In the DICOM standard, the Patient Name (PN) Value Representation strictly uses carets to separate name components (FamilyName^GivenName^MiddleName^Prefix^Suffix). The web interface simply pulls that raw string and pushes it directly to the UI.
Your Options
Since there isn't a simple toggle switch in the administrative console, here is the reality of how you can handle it:
- Modify the Source Code: The only way to format the name into a regular string (e.g., "Washington Cavalcante Costa") within dcm4chee-web3 is to modify the Java source code. You would need to pull the dcm4chee 2.x source code, locate the Wicket models responsible for rendering the patient list, and programmatically parse or replace the ^ characters with spaces. Afterward, you would have to rebuild and deploy the updated application.
- Leave it as-is (The Standard Approach): In many PACS environments, technologists and physicians just get used to seeing the carets. It actually serves a functional purpose by removing ambiguity about which part of the name is the surname versus the given name.
- Use a Dedicated Viewer: Most third-party DICOM web viewers (like Oviyam or Weasis) that you can integrate with dcm4chee do parse the PN tag and format it cleanly for the end user. The native dcm4chee-web3 interface is generally meant more for PACS administration and routing than for daily clinical viewing.
I know that is probably not the easy fix you were hoping for, but I hope it saves you from spending hours digging through configuration files!