A Brief History of DICOM

Abstract

Because the DICOM standard is some 20 years old, its history has become an integral part of its being; and knowing the history of DICOM can help answer many current questions. Moreover, despite having undergone frequent revisions, the standard has never truly been revolutionized. It has continually evolved, adjusting itself to current practices, yet preserving many of its original historical features. The natural process of DICOM device manufacturing, selling, and using spans a cycle of several years (modalities are expensive, and hospital administrators are typically conservative and budget-conscious, trying to get the most out of equipment), sometimes even to the point of keeping things until they fall apart. Should we also mention all discontinued, refurbished, and simply old units that many practices still purchase as the most affordable alternative? This creates an environment in which drastic updates are not really welcome, and compatibility with older equipment (and, consequently, older DICOM) becomes a must. In brief, if you work in the current, multifaceted clinical environment you will have to work with multigeneration equipment (DICOM-compliant and not), and you are bound to make occasional “archeological” discoveries, finding yourself dealing with many layers of DICOM history.