DICOM is Easy

DICOM Query/Retrieve Part I

2012-01-23T02:36:00.000-08:00

It all started when I was sitting in a cubicle with a customer, looking at the code of their workstation performing a Query/Retrieve cycle and though everything did look familiar and pretty much straight forward something bothered me.

Query/Retrieve, or Q/R for short, is the DICOM service for searching images on the PACS and getting a copy of them to the workstation where they can be displayed.

Q/R is a fundamental service and every workstation implements it. This sounds like a trivial task, just like downloading a zip file from a web site but there are a lot of details to take care of and while writing this post I realized that I will have to split it to a little sub-series. Today's post will be about the Query part and in the next post I'll get to the Retrieve.

To search the PACS we use the DICOM command C-FIND. This command takes as an argument a DICOM object that represent a query. The PACS transforms the object that we send to a query, probably to SQL, runs it and then transform every result record back into a DICOM object and send it back to us in a C-FIND response. The PACS sends one C-FIND response for every result record. While still running, the status field of the C-FIND response command is pending (0xFF00). The last response has a status success. It may of course fail and then RZDCX will throw an exception with the failure reason and status. It may also succeed but with no matches (empty results set).

Let's do some examples. This code constructs a query for searching patients:

// Fill the query object

DCXOBJ obj = new DCXOBJ();

DCXELM el = new DCXELM();

el.Init((int)DICOM_TAGS_ENUM.QueryRetrieveLevel);

el.Value = "PATIENT";

obj.insertElement(el);

el.Init(0x00100010);

el.Value = "R*";

obj.insertElement(el);

el.Init(0x00100020);

obj.insertElement(el);

el.Init((int)DICOM_TAGS_ENUM.PatientsSex);

obj.insertElement(el);

el.Init((int)DICOM_TAGS_ENUM.PatientsBirthDate);

obj.insertElement(el);

Introduction to DICOM - Chapter 6 - Transfer Syntax

2012-01-09T02:24:00.000-08:00

Transfer syntax defines how DICOM objects are serialized. When holding an object in memory, the only thing that matter is that your application can use it. The internal representation of the object is your own business. However, when sharing objects with other applications, everyone should be able to use the same object. The common solution for such problems is serialization.

Serialization is the process of writing a data structure or object state to wire i.e in a format that can be stored in a file or memory buffer, or transmitted across a network so it can be red on the other side of the wire or later by the same or by another process.

There's no shared memory in DICOM but it can be easily made using the same mechanism that is utilized for networking and files alike i.e. serializing the object into memory according to the rules dictated by the standard i.e. using transfer syntax.

In this post I'll cover the following issues:

Present the term Transfer Syntax,
Why Transfer Syntax is required
What is Transfer Syntax used for
How Transfer Syntax is set when using

DICOM files
DICOM network

So, as I said, the serialization in DICOM is governed by a term called Transfer Syntax.

Transfer Syntax is defined at the object level and is the syntax for serializing a DICOM object. We have seen transfer syntaxes already in chapter 5 when dealing with association negotiation but did not discuss them. In order for an application to read a DICOM object from a network wire, it has to know the rules that were used to write the object into the wire. In the association request the calling AE sends a list of abstract syntaxes with SOP Class UID's. For every SOP Class, the calling AE sends a list of transfer syntax UID's. In the association response the called AE selects one of the transfer syntax UID's for every SOP class it accepts.

Introduction to DICOM - Chapter 5 – Solving a DICOM Communication Problem

2011-12-15T05:02:00.000-08:00

Today we are going to diagnose a communication problem between two DICOM applications and hopefully find the reason for the problem and solve it. I know, we didn’t even start talking about the DICOM network protocol, but hay, we’re not going to read all this 3,000 pages standard together before getting our hands dirty, right?
In this post we'll discuss:

Application Entities (AE’s) – the nodes in the DICOM network and their name – AE Title
Association – a network peer-to-peer session between two DICOM applications
Association Negotiation – The first part of the association in which the two AE’s agree on what can and can’t be done during the Association
The Verification Service using the C-ECHO command – a DICOM Service Class that is used to verify a connection, sort of application level ‘ping’.
The Storage Service using the C-STORE command – a DICOM Service that allows one AE to send a DICOM object to another AE

The C in C-ECHO and C-STORE commands stands for Composite. If you remember, in chapter 4 when discussing the DICOM Data Model, we said that DICOM applications exchange composite objects (the DICOM images that we already know) that are composites of modules from different IE's where IE's are the information entities of the Normalized DICOM data model.

Here's the story:

Complaint 20123

Burt Simpson from Springfield Memorial Hospital reports that he can’t send the screen capture to the PACS. He kept clicking the green “Send” button but he always gets the same error: “Operation Failed!”. The log file Burt copied from the system is attached.

You may ask yourself, what’s the point in analyzing a log of an application that we are never going to use? Well, the truth is that all DICOM logs look alike. Actually, most DICOM applications are quite similar because DICOM software implementations have common ancient ancestors. If it’s a C library it may be the DICOM test node, CTN. If it’s Java than it might be dcm4che. Even if it's PHP or other newer languages, the libraries were transcribed and ported from the old C implementations so all DICOM logs are similar.

Introduction to DICOM - Chapter 4 - DICOM Objects

2011-12-01T14:09:00.001-08:00

Chapter 4 – DICOM Objects

In chapter 3 we’ve learned about DICOM elements. Every element is one piece of typed data with a pre defined, well specified meaning. There are thousands of DICOM elements (See chapter 6 of the standard) from the very basic attributes of patient name and birth date to the most esoteric uses of 3D surface vortices. In this chapter we’re going to collect elements into image object that is called Secondary Capture Image.

The guys at DICOM did a lot of very good work and created well defined classes for a very detailed Data Model. This is why I always advise to dig in the DICOM standard before designing your imaging device software because there’s a very good chance that the DICOM technical committees already did the work for you and you can save a lot of expansive design time this way.

In a way DICOM objects definitions are similar to object oriented programming. I prefer though the analog to interfaces specifications. The motivation to adhere to a standard is to enable interoperability. By detailing information object definitions (IOD’s) DICOM enables us to exchange virtual objects between applications without knowing in advance anything about the application we are going to interface with.

In this chapter I'm going to complete chapter’s 3 examples by adding elements to the object until it’s a valid Secondary Capture Image according to the DICOM standard. Secondary Capture Image is the simplest DICOM image object. Secondary Captures is not related to any specific device. It has the very basic set of elements that a DICOM application needs in order to display and archive a DICOM image properly.

Introduction to DICOM - Chapter 3 - DICOM Elements

2011-11-28T14:21:00.001-08:00

Chapter 3 – DICOM Elements

Let’s start with a useful example. Suppose you are a dermatologist and that you use your Smartphone digital camera to record and track patients’ skin condition. You practice a simple procedure that is basically this:

1. Take a photo

2. Send it to yourself by email

3. Open the email on your laptop and save the picture in a folder having the patient name.

As programmers, we don’t have to talk much about the flows of this practice but for a small, one doctor clinic, this might just work.

In this lesson, we’ll take the JPEG image and DICOMIZE it. When we DICOMIZE an Image we wrap the image in a DICOM envelope and add important data that is required by the DICOM standard in order to enable all DICOM enabled applications to read and display the image correctly. It’s true that non DICOM application can display the JPEG image just as it is now without DICOMIZING but that’s another story.

Read more »

Special offer for the new HL7Kit Pro 1.5

2011-11-17T04:22:00.001-08:00

The new version 1.5 of HL7Kit Pro - HL7 to Database Integration Engine was released today. To celebrate the new release, the new version is offered at only $249 and includes all 4 applications in a single installation package. We've come to realize that our users prefer having the entire product installed on the production server including the HL7 Sender, HL7 Receiver and the HL7 Mapping Tool.

The main new feature of the new release is the support of multiple protocol versions and multiple mapping rules for a single runtime service. The runtime service can be configured to use different message definition files and different mapping XML for every remote application. This feature was requested long ago by many customers and a workaround to allow this was introduced in version 1.2. Now this feature is fully integrated into the product. The new release can be downloaded here.

HL7Kit Video Tutorials

2011-10-28T17:15:00.000-07:00

If one picture worth a thousand words, how much does a 20 minutes video tutorials worth?
The HL7Kit web site promise that "You are 20 minutes away from HL7 integration!" I checked that again, this time on film.
From download to runtime deployment, a series of five detailed videos showing step by step how to set up a ADT^A01 message interface using HL7Kit.
Here it is. Comments and questions are most welcome.

Introduction to DICOM - Chapter 1 - Introduction

2011-10-11T07:27:00.000-07:00

Introduction to DICOM

Chapter 1: Introduction

DICOM is a software integration standard that is used in Medical Imaging. All modern medical imaging systems (AKA Imaging Modalities) Equipment like X-Rays, Ultrasounds, CT (Computed Tomography), and MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) support DICOM and use it extensively.

In this tutorial I present a high level review of DICOM. We will look at DICOM from the user point of view trying to avoid the fine details when possible.
Read more »

Introduction to DICOM - Chpater 2 - Why is it this way in DICOM?

2011-10-11T07:00:00.000-07:00

Introduction to DICOM
Chpater 2 - Why is it this way in DICOM?
Many times when I explain features and aspects of DICOM I get questions like, “Why do you need DICOM if you have JPEG and XML?”; or, ”why is DICOM so complicated?”. Many variants of such questions continually come up over and over again. These types of questions can be very broad or very specific and relate to all kind of choices that the people who write the standard make and the options that they take.

Converting Bitmap, JPEG and PDF to DICOM

2011-10-09T07:37:00.000-07:00

Imagine you're a dermatologist taking pictures of patients' skin for treatment tracking using a digital camera. The pictures are JPEG's and have no patient info in them. If you could convert them to DICOM and send them to the clinic PACS, that would be a great advancement.

With the new RZDCX version 2.0.1.4 and up (RZDCX DICOM Toolkit download page) implementing an application that does just that becomes very simple.

Read more »

Open Source HL7 Sender

2011-09-25T23:47:00.000-07:00

HL7 Sender source code is now available for free download.
The full source code of the HL7 enditor / HL7 sender application can be obtained from the product web site

Read more »

RZDCX DICOM Library Release 2.0.0.8

2011-05-15T02:35:00.001-07:00

The new release of RZDCX - Fast Strike DICOM Toolkit addresses customers change requests and enhancements.

The change log is detailed in the following table.

#	Type	Status	Created	By	Subsys	Changed	Assigned	Svr	Pri	Title
253	new	fixed	Mar 23	zroni	RZDCX	Mar 23	zroni	5	3	Limit log file size	edit
254	new	fixed	Apr 20	zroni	RZDCX	10:52	zroni	3	3	Support Unicode filenames	edit

256	new	fixed	May 14	zroni	RZDCX	May 14	zroni	5	3	Add Status Detail to Error Message	edit

All changes does not affect the default behavior of the DICOM Library.

Change #253 addresses the size of the log file. This change enables the user to set a size limit in terms of number of messages in the file. The change introduces new methods to the DCXAPP interface that control the log file size and filename. For more information please read the DICOM Library Documentation page dealing with DICOM Diagnostics and Logging.

Change #254 adds support for Unicode filenames. After this change, all method parameters that carry filenames (e.g. OnStoreSetup, OnStoreDone, SaveFile, openFile, Send, CommitFiles) may use Unicode filenames strings. For example, if your application requires to save DICOM files with names with Mandarin characters, this is now supported.

Change #256 adds more information to the error description that is provided when a DICOM command fails by dumping all optional command attributes that were provided by the peer application into the error description string. The status details attributes are optional elements that a SCP may provide when commands fail. These may be a list of offending elements or other information that can help diagnose the problem. See for example DICOM Stabdard part 7, Section 10.1.5.1.6 describing N-CREATE Status Detail.

RZDCX Release 2.0.0.3 Adds DICOMIZER and Enhanced Logging

2011-02-27T10:16:00.000-08:00

Update: a full featured DICOMIZER is available in the following link: http://www.roniza.com/products/dicomizerThe new release (2.0.0.3) of RZDCX fast strike DICOM toolkit adds more functionality and enhanced features. As always, all new features emerge from specific user requests and address their requirements.

New example applications demonstrate the new features. Most notable is the C# DICOMIZER example that converts JPEG and Bitmap files to DICOM.

Read more »

New HL7Kit Release 1.4 adds multiple destinations

2011-02-01T16:01:00.000-08:00

We're happy to announce the new release 1.4 of HL7Kit, HL7 Integration Engine.
This release takes HL7Kit a major step forward with the new multiple-destinations feature.
With multiple destinations, HL7Kit can serve as a dispatcher for HL7 messages, sending the same message to multiple applications.
Every destination is monitored independently and has it's own retry counter, logging and error handling.
Users may select to send messages to all configured destinations or just to specific ones, depending on integration needs.
In addition, this release includes new message structure definitions for MDM messages.
A complete list of the features can be found in the updated user's manual available for download from the product support page at http://www.hl7kit.com/support.html.

DICOM SR - Structured Reports Made Easy with RZDCX 2.0

2011-01-16T14:55:00.000-08:00

A new year is the perfect time for a new product version.
2011 is the year for the new release of RDCX DICOM Toolkit version 2.0 with structured reporting.

The major feature of this release is the all new DCXSR interface for creating DICOM Structured Reports using the dynamic SR dictionary.

If you had the chance to play around with DICOM SR's, you'll probably agree with me about one thing: so many attributes for so little information, ha? Just look at all these nested sequences, oh my god!

Read more »

HL7 Mapper may not save configuration due to missing access to INFORMATION_SCHEMA

2010-09-01T04:22:00.000-07:00

Symptom: When trying to save configuration, an error message is shown with the following text:

"Object Reference not set to an instance of an object"

Reason: The HL7 Mapping application relies on SQL Server INFORMATION_SCHEMA to generate the database view dynamically. Apparently there has been some compatibility issues with this feature since SQL Server 2005 and sometimes there's no access to this view.
The view may be accessible on one catalog and not accessible on another even if they are on the same table.
If this

Solution: We are working on a fix to this problem.

Ticket 224: HL7 Mapper may not save configuration due to missing system tables

Healthcare Software Integration Engines are grossly over priced

2010-08-29T01:33:00.000-07:00

"Healthcare Software Integration Engines are grossly over priced"
These are not my words. This is an exact quote of a very well recognized healthcare IT professional.
And I fully agree. After all, what's the big deal, Aha? It's just moving fields and attributes from one place to another, change some formats maybe, some XML tricks, database. Really, no big deal, right?

You maybe think to yourself that I'm joking but I'm not. After all, I have developed an HL7 Integration Engine of my own that I'm very proud of, HL7Kit Pro. This little devil is not a show off. It's a tool designed to do one thing - build a two way road, a bridge, between your SQL Server database and HL7.

In modern design, less is more. When going over the features list of some of these products, I can't avoid the comparison with a 'do it all 149 peaces hardware tool kit' perfect package on TV Shop America.

When shopping for an integration engine it's important to remember that there's always the other road. The one of developing custom interfaces. Good programmers nowadays are not that expensive to hire and the software tools we have today are efficient and easy to use. So when you are facing an integration challenge, you should compare the options and don't get tempted to purchase a multi K$ package bundled with a big unknown figure of expert consultation, maintenance and support fees to feed the monster.

Instead, take the right HL7 tool in your hands and finish the work in no time.

The new 1.3 release of HL7Kit Pro adds hot folders integration. The runtime service can be configured to digest HL7 messages from an inbox folder and write outgoing messages to an Out-box directory.

There's also better support for running multiple HL7 runtime services on a single computer, each using it's own queue.

... And there's many bug fixes and little improvements like the ability to read and write directly from views ...

All in all, the new release is a direct continuation of the old one and that's simply because there's no need for major changes when a tool is doing the work. Simple work, but still work.

Ask every professional: working with quality tools designed for the task is great fun.

To get you started, there are two example projects on the HL7 support page. One for incoming messages and one for outgoing messages that you can download and try with the evaluation copy.

Registry free COM using Side By Side Assemblies

2010-08-23T05:46:00.000-07:00

Registry Free COM

Did you know that you don't have to register a COM object in order to use it?

Well, I didn't. Until recently, when I was searching for something in the internet and bumped into this article in the MSDN library.

What this means, to me at least, is that there's no need to register RZDCX and thus it can be used in many applications that require no installation, because, as you know, to register a COM object in the registry you need administrative rights but to run an application from a CD you don't have to.

So, this post is all about using RZDCX.DLL with no installation.

For this purpose, we'll use one of the sample applications, for example the C# example EchoSCUExample.

All the examples with their source code can be downloaded from the DICOM download page.

Download the complete package with RZDCX.DLL, The manifest files, C++ Example and C# example.

In order to eliminate the use of registry, we'll create a manifest file for EchoSCUExample.exe and name it EchoSCUExample.exe.manifest

Next, we need to create a manifest file for RZDCX.DLL as well, name it rzdcx.X.manifest and save it in the same folder. Note that this is the manifest of the comming version 2.0.0.0 of RZDCX so some of the interfaces in it are not yet available in version 1.0.1.7 that is currently available on the web site.

Copy all four files (rzdcx.dll, rzdcx.X.manifest, EchoSCUExample.exe and EchoSCUExample.exe.manifest) to a single directory, unregister RZDCX.DLL (using regsvr32.exe -u rzdcx.dll) so that you are absolutely sure that no registry is involved and double click EchoSCUExample.exe.

Enjoy!

Fixed bugs and new features in release 1.0.1.7

2010-06-29T01:36:00.000-07:00

Fixed bugs and new features in release 1.0.1.7 address all kind of issues that were found lately.
The most important feature that was added this build is the ability to receive N-EVENT-REPORT commands in the Requester class DCXREQ that represents the SCU.
The methods new methods CommitFilesAndWaitForResult and CommitInstancesAndWaitForResult in the requester class enable us to wait for the commit result on the same association that sent the request.
The following code shows how to build a Storage Commitment SCU with the new methods.

   [Test]
   public void CommitFilesAndWaitForResultOnSameAssoc()
   {
   bool status;
   bool gotIt;
   String fullpath = "SCMTEST";
   Directory.CreateDirectory(fullpath);
   CommonTestUtilities.CreateDummyImages(fullpath, 1, 1);
   string succeededInstances;
   string failedInstances;
   string MyAETitle = System.Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("COMPUTERNAME");
   DCXREQ r = new DCXREQ();
   //r.OnCommitResult += new IDCXREQEvents_OnCommitResultEventHandler(a1.accepter_OnCommitResult);
   r.OnFileSent += new IDCXREQEvents_OnFileSentEventHandler(OnFileSent);
   r.Send(MyAETitle, IS_AE, IS_Host, IS_port, fullpath + "\\SER1\\IMG1", out succeededInstances, out failedInstances);
   DCXOBJ obj = new DCXOBJ();
   obj.openFile(fullpath + "\\SER1\\IMG1");
   string sop_class_uid = obj.getElementByTag((int)DICOM_TAGS_ENUM.sopClassUid).Value.ToString();
   string instance_uid = obj.getElementByTag((int)DICOM_TAGS_ENUM.sopInstanceUID).Value.ToString();
   string transactionUID = r.CommitFilesAndWaitForResult(MyAETitle, IS_AE, IS_Host, IS_port, fullpath + "\\SER1\\IMG1",
   5, out gotIt, out status, out succeededInstances, out failedInstances);
   Directory.Delete(fullpath, true);

   Assert.True(status, "Commit result is not success");
   Assert.That(failedInstances.Length == 0);
   Assert.AreEqual(succeededInstances, sop_class_uid + ";" + instance_uid + ";");
   }

It's important to remember that the SCP may send the result on a separate association so unless you're absolutely sure about the way the SCP will behave, you should be prepared to receive the result with your accepter that can either run in a separate thread or you can set it up just for this purpose.
Here's a little code snippet that does exactly this. It prepares an accepter, then send the request and then wait for the result either to be send instantly in the same association or on a separate one. Note that this is a NUnit test function with a lot of verification code. To simply send the commit and wait for the result you should call the send and wait methods and if didn't get the result, wait on the accepter.

   class SyncAccepter
   {
   public bool _gotIt = false;
   public bool _status = false;
   public string _transaction_uid;
   public string _succeeded_instances;
   public string _failed_instances;
   public DCXACC accepter;
   public string MyAETitle;

   public void accepter_OnCommitResult(
   bool status,
   string transaction_uid,
   string succeeded_instances,
   string failed_instances)
   {
   _gotIt = true;
   _status = status;
   _transaction_uid = transaction_uid;
   _succeeded_instances = succeeded_instances;
   _failed_instances = failed_instances;
   }

   public SyncAccepter()
   {
   accepter = new DCXACC();
   accepter.OnCommitResult += new IDCXACCEvents_OnCommitResultEventHandler(accepter_OnCommitResult);
   MyAETitle = System.Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("COMPUTERNAME");
   accepter.WaitForConnection(MyAETitle, 104, 0);
   }

   public bool WaitForIt(int timeout)
   {
   if (accepter.WaitForConnection(MyAETitle, 104, timeout))
   return accepter.WaitForCommand(timeout);
   else
   return false;
   }
   }

   [Test]
   public void CommitFilesSameThread()
   {

   // Create test files
   String fullpath = "SCMTEST";
   Directory.CreateDirectory(fullpath);
   CommonTestUtilities.CreateDummyImages(fullpath, 1, 1);

   // Send test files
   string MyAETitle = System.Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("COMPUTERNAME");
   DCXREQ r = new DCXREQ();
   string succeededInstances;
   string failedInstances;
   r.Send(MyAETitle, IS_AE, IS_Host, IS_port, fullpath + "\\SER1\\IMG1", out succeededInstances, out failedInstances);
   Assert.That(failedInstances.Length == 0);
   Assert.That(succeededInstances.Length > 0);

   // Commit files and wait for result on separate association for 30 seconds
   SyncAccepter a1 = new SyncAccepter();
   r.CommitFiles(MyAETitle, IS_AE, IS_Host, IS_port, fullpath + "\\SER1\\IMG1");
   a1.WaitForIt(30);

   if (a1._gotIt)
   {
   // Check the result

   Assert.True(a1._status, "Commit result is not success");
   Assert.That(a1._failed_instances.Length == 0);

   DCXOBJ obj = new DCXOBJ();
   obj.openFile(fullpath + "\\SER1\\IMG1");
   string sop_class_uid = obj.getElementByTag((int)DICOM_TAGS_ENUM.sopClassUid).Value.ToString();
   string instance_uid = obj.getElementByTag((int)DICOM_TAGS_ENUM.sopInstanceUID).Value.ToString();
   Assert.AreEqual(a1._succeeded_instances, sop_class_uid + ";" + instance_uid + ";");
   }
   else
   Assert.Fail("Didn't get commit result");

   /// Cleanup
   Directory.Delete(fullpath, true);
   }
   }

195	code	fixed	1.0.1.6	N-EVENT-REPORT Response for Storage Commit always return error to SCP	edit
Returns status 0x00fe always.

196	code	fixed	1.0.1.6	DCXOBJ TransferSyntax (set) method is reverted after saveFile	edit
Do the following: 1) Change Transfer Syntax 2) Save file 3) Load the file 4) Check the meta header transfer syntax -> Same as before (1) Reason, xfer member of DCXOBJ doesn't change at (1) even that the object is changed.

197	code	fixed	1.0.1.6	Can't get printer info if printer is only color	edit
Reported by L&T (6.2) If printer negotiates only basic color print management, then GetPrinterInfo will not work.

198	new	fixed	1.0.1.6	Get Storage Commit result N-EVENT-REPORT on requester association	edit
SCM SCP may send N-EVENT-REPORT with SCM Result on same association that the SCM SCU initiated and sent the request N-ACTION. It may also send it on a new association that the SCP initiates. SCM SCU may disconnect association immediatly after recieving the N-ACTION Response from the SCP. This change allows both ways to be implemented in RZDCX by adding the CommitInstancesAndWaitForResult andCommitFilesAndWaitForResult. These methods send the request and then wait for the N-EVENT-REPORT

199	code	fixed	1.0.1.6	get property SamplesPrePixel in DCXPrintImageBox may return wrong valu	edit
Casting between int, enum and ushort may cause wrong interpratation of get value. Resolve by explicit cast in method.

200	code	fixed	1.0.1.6	Get TM (Time) data element is not identical to set	edit
Get time of 13:04:59.123 doesn't get expected result. See unit test.change control: return value is up to millisecond i.e. formated as hh:mm:dd.ttt

RZDCX DICOM Toolkit 1.0.1.6 Released

2010-06-21T01:56:00.000-07:00

The new build of RZDCX addresses two bugs found in the Print module and a fix to the C# MWL test application.

#	Type	Status	Created	By	Subsys	Changed	Assigned	Svr	Pri	Title
194	code	fixed	Jun 20	zroni	RZDCX	Jun 20	zroni	1	1	SPS sequence is not added to query object in C# MWL Test application	edit
193	code	fixed	Jun 20	zroni	RZDCX	Jun 20	zroni	1	1	Pixel data size in color print is wrong	edit
192	code	fixed	Jun 20	zroni	RZDCX	Jun 20	zroni	1	1	LANDSACPE instead of LANDSCAPE in Print API	edit

FIX Problem: RZDCX not showing in the Add reference tab in Visual Studio 2008

2010-06-17T12:34:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, a problem was found in the registration of the win32 build 1.0.1.4.
The problem seams to be related to win32/x64 registry entry mix-up in the type library registry entry leading to the component not showing when trying to add a reference in C# projects.
This problem is showing in build 1.0.1.4 and 1.0.1.3.

The problem is now fixed in build 1.0.1.5

Note that for using the win32 component on x64 machines you should use the SysWOW32o64 version of regsvr32.exe

RZDCX DICOM Toolkit 1.0.1.4 Released

2010-06-03T03:59:00.000-07:00

A new release of RZDCX - Fast Strike DICOM Toolkit is now available on RZ web site at http://www.roniza.com/products/downloads.

This version include some bug fixes, new features and new sample applications.

The complete documentation can be found online in the following link: http://www.ganilo.net/RZDCX/1.0.1.4/index.html

A table with a list of the changes and modifications, some of them were already available in release 1.0.1.3 can be found at the end of this post.

I'm going to take this opportunity to start a new thread in this blog that discusses professional aspects of software development in general and DICOM programming specifically.

Today I'm going to talk a bit about the DICOM File Meta Infomration AKA File Meta Header.

When saving a DICOM object to file, the application that saves the file should add to the DICOM object a header.
This header is comprised of:

A preamble - 128 bytes that can be anything but are usually set to 0 (0x00),
The DICOM magic number i.e. 4 bytes equals to DICM and
A set of DICOM attributes of group 0002 (0x0002) encoded using Expilict Little Endian Transfer Syntax.

It is important to remember that the should be re-created by the saving application and that it is not part of the DICOM object and thus should be removed before sending the object by C-STORE for example.

The roles of the elements in group 0002 are:

To specify the transfer syntax that is used for the DICOM object itself that may be different then LEE,
To identify the saving application.

The first role is obvious but why do we need #2? Well, suppose that you find out that you have a problem with files that come from a specific application, so you can add code to your application that checks the application UID and version in the file meta header and cope with the problem accordingly.

In RZDCX, you can get the elements of the header simply by writing the following code (C#):

DCXOBJ obj = new DCXOBJ();

// Read the file

obj.openFile("DCMFILE");

// Get the header

DCXOBJ meta = obj.FileMetaInfo;

Now you can read elements from the header using getElementByTag.

DCXELM transferSyntax = meta.getElementByTag((int)DICOM_TAG_ENUM.TransferSyntaxUID);

So now you're asking how do I change it and the answer is you don't. Why not? because if you change it and someone finds a problem with the DICOM objects you create how can he know that it was generated by RZDCX :)

186	todo	closed	1.0.1.2	COLOR Print is not working	edit
Reported by XX: Color print session is not working with current RZ evaluation version. It throws an exception while Creating Page. Both Color and Gray Scale printing should be possible

185	new	closed		Add support for PRINTER SOP Class as SCU	edit
Requested by XX

184	code	closed		MPPS Set Request returns success even if the MPPS is deleted	edit
Need to verify following report:RZ API IDCXREQ::SendMPPSNSetRquest is giving the status as success in case of updating the deleted instance in server. The expected behavior is it should throw an exception or else there should be some callback mechanism which tells us the status as failure. Our suggestion: RZ needs to provide an implementation to verify the existence of created instance in server. OR IDCXREQ::SendMPPSNSetRquest should throw an exception in case of trying to update the deleted instance OR RZ should provide call back mechanism which gives the status as FAILURE in above scenario.

183	new	closed		Modify MWL SCU to include date range query	edit
Use for example e->Value = "20100101-20101231";

182	code	closed		Create single project example with SCM SCU and SCM SCP	edit
make a single example program with both listener and a Storage Commit SCU that shows how to send and receive storage commit requests and results

181	new	closed		Add license restricted API to modify META header elements	edit
Check special license flag to allow/block this option. Add parameter to special call of save to file

180	code	closed	1.0.1.1	getElementByTag does not return NULL if element not found in object	edit
Needs verification. Code review suggests this bug doesn't exist. Reported by XXXX.

179	new	closed		Add example for private tags in RZDCX Sample Applications	edit
A simple example, can be added to create DICOM object example

178	todo	closed		Add example of Multi-Frame Image creation	edit
For Bankuzi

RZDCX Release 1.0.1.3

2010-05-13T13:44:00.000-07:00

The new release of RZDCX is now available on the download page of our web site.

Since the last release we've changed many things and improved the development process by using the latest tools and methodologies in order to monitor and manage the production environment ensuring that it's consistent, traceable and reproducible. Behind these big words hide even bigger words like extreme programming and continuous integration and these are backed up by great products like TeamCity for automatic building and unit testing facilities like NUnit and MSTest. All together there's now a set of systems and utilities working together to provide complete Configuration Management (CM) system:

Source Control - CVS
Issues tracking - CVSTrac
Automatic Builds - TeamCity
Unit Testing - NUnit (2.5.4), CPPUnit and MSTest
Automatic Documentation - Doxygen

Latest Changes

The major changes in this release are:

Add bare N-CREATE calls.
Add support for Printer SOP Class N-GET.
Fix Color Printing.
Add example for multi-frame image creation

There are some more small fixes. Most important, there are no backwards compatibility issues and old tests are running as before. The ease of verifying this short sentence demonstrates the benefits of investing in CM.

Print Managment

Following a user report, we've discovered that the color printing methods doesn't work properly and fixed that. The proper way to create an Image Box is now to call GetImageBox method of the DCXPrintPage class (that represents the film box). Otherwise, you'll have to set the ColorSpace property of the Image Box before calling any other method or property.
Additionally, there's now two new calls in the DCXREQ class that can create film sessions (color or grayscale) with additional paramteres, as for example to set number of pages or priority.
Please check the relevant new version documentation pages for more information

"Hacking" HL7Kit Pro Runtime Service to work with multiple HL7 applications

2010-02-18T07:19:00.000-08:00

I know that it's not very common to show how to hack your own application but since this issue has been circling for a while, I'd like to show a workaround that will allow you to use the kit to integrate with many HL7 applications simultaneously.

The kit original design is to communicate with one remote application.

The workaround is to have multiple instances of the HL7 service running. The services can connect to the same database but each mush have it's own queue table.

Each will have it's own configuration file and it's own mapping rules file and mapping definitions but they will all write to the same log file and there can be only one active tray icon.

Here's how to set this up step by step:

Stop the HL7 Service.
In windows explorer navigate to the installation folder (default is c:\program files\rz software services\hl7) and make a copy of the folder, so you have hl7 and hl72.
Create a copy of the HL7_QUEUE table so you have two queue tables or if you prefer, use each service on a different database schema.
Use the HL7ServiceConfiguration.exe application in each folder to configure the port settings, mapping files and queue table names. Alternatively you can edit the HL7Service.exe.config file manually.
Test your setup by running "HL7Service.exe -run" from two separate command line windows.
Configure the new service to run on system startup. This is a bit tricky but here's a way that works:

Run regedit
navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\HL7Service and export it.
Edit the reg file and replace all "HL7Service" with "HL7Service2"
Save it and double click it to import it to the registry.
In regedit change the ImagePath entry of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\HL7Service2 to the copied HL7 Folder (hl72)
Restart the computer.

Now you should have two services installed: HL7Service and HL7Service2.

Of course, you can duplicate them as well.

I hope to have a new release soon that will allow multiple destinations and sources of messages.

Roni

DICOM JPEG 2000 Decoding in RZDCX Release 1.0.1.1

2010-02-14T13:00:00.000-08:00

The new preliminary release of the Fast Strike DICOM Toolkit, RZDCX, adds JPEG 2000 support for communication and decoding. The function Decode of the DCXOBJ class decodes JPEG  2000 DICOM images just like it does for jpeg, jpeg lossless and RLE.
The function SaveBitmap of the DCXIMG class also handles jpeg 2000 in the same manner.

The following sample code snippet shows how to decode a JPEG 2000 image using the Decode function and save it as a new decompressed DICOM file:

   DCXOBJ image = new DCXOBJ();
   String filename = "DCMJ2K";
   image.openFile(filename);
   image.Decode();
   image.saveFile("DCMLEE");

Another little feature of this release is the TransferSyntax property (set only) that can be used to encode or decode objects or explicitly set the transfer syntax, for example to store objects as little endian implicit or big endian implicit. Up until now, created objects could have been stored either as little endian explicit or with one of the supported compressed formats (jpeg, jpeg lossles and rle).

The following code shows how to save files as LEI:

DCXOBJ image = new DCXOBJ();

/// ... add elements in

image.TransferSyntax = TS_LEI;

image.saveFile("DCMLEI");

The new release is on the downloads page at www.roniza.com/downloads.

XRFiles Howto Video

2010-02-05T03:29:00.000-08:00

Following the previous post about the launch of XRFiles, here's a short video that shows how to upload, view and share medical imaging exams using XRFiles web site.

www.xrfiles.com

2010-01-28T13:05:00.000-08:00

XRFiles is an online personal archive for medical imaging exams.

Using XRFiles anyone can upload, view and share their X-Rays, Ultrasounds, CT's and other medical images.

You probably know that this kind of images don't just open and show when you click (or double click) them on your computer. Many times they are just too big to send by email. XRFiles provides a solution to all that with a simple Upload-Share-View cycle.

Once uploaded, all DICOM Images are processed and listed in the exams page.

The user can review them online using the browser embeded viewer and invite others to review them.

While common web DICOM viewers either compromise quality by converting the images to jpeg or require software installation in the form of ActiveX components or stand alone applications, the XRFiles viewer doesn't require all that and still keep the full image quality including contrast/brightness settings for 16 bit grayscales, utilizing unique IP protected imaging technology. This eliminates all the administration and security hustle that usually involves web viewers distribution.

Another interesting element of the XRFiles web site is the sleek upload process that let you upload simply by dragging and dropping your files on the Transfer Manager Java application.

And in case you're about to ask, the service is free of charge.

DICOM for Developers, Dec 21-22, Tel-Aviv

2009-11-29T00:50:00.001-08:00

Following some requests, the course was rescheduled to December 21-22.
There's still few places left.
For more info: http://www.roniza.com-a.googlepages.com/COURSE_DICOM_FOR_DEVELOPERS_DEC_21_2.pdf

DICOM Course - DICOM for Developers

2009-10-27T07:08:00.000-07:00

Audience: Software engineers and medical IT professionals with some programming skills

When: November 24-25, 2009
Where: Tel-Aviv
What:

The DICOM Standard

Services
Commands
Files
Networking

Reading and Understanding a Conformance Statement
Focusing on the DICOM Image

Creating DICOM Images
Displaying DICOM Images
Contrast Transformations
Working with Series of Images

Development Tools

Open Source
RZDCX
Building a Server application with RZDCX
Building a Client application with RZDCX

There are still some places available.

Registration can be made to the first day only (no programming).

For more details: info@roniza.com

RZDCX Release 1.0.1.0

2009-10-15T08:18:00.000-07:00

The new release of RZDCX include two new features and two important bug fixes.

172	code	closed	1.0.0.9	Oct 12	zroni	Oct 13	zroni	1	1	C-STORE Response Status is not reflected in API calles	edit
171	code	closed	1.0.0.9	Sep 29	zroni	Oct 13	zroni	1	1	OnCommitResult is not fired on failure status	edit
170	new	closed	1.0.0.9	Sep 07	zroni	Oct 13	zroni	4	3	Add DCXKIN Interface for creating Key Images Notes SRs	edit
169	new	closed	1.0.0.9	Aug 27	zroni	Aug 30	zroni	3	1	Add DICOMDIR Creation	edit

Creating DICOM Media has never been simpler with the new DICOMDIR.ScanAndCreate method.
This method creates a DICOMDIR file for a folder.
The DCXKIN is a new interface class for creating Key Object Selection (Key Images).
Using this interface you can add files or in-memory objects and then get the KIN object.

Item # 172 is an important bug fix. If a C-STORE command completed with no communication errors but the response status was unsuccessful, no error was propagated to the user. The fix returns a failure status (exception or HRESULT) if this happens. If the response status is success or warning then the method returns success. The warning can then be detected if the logs are on.

Item # 171 is yet another important bug fix related to storage commitment service as SCU. It turned out that the OnCommitResult event was fired only on successful commit results. This event is now fires on every commit result (N-EVENT-REPORT).

The toolkit is available online at http://www.roniza.com-a.googlepages.com/downloads

Roni

RZDCX Release 1.0.0.9

2009-08-30T06:16:00.000-07:00

RZDCX Release 1.0.0.9 is now available online at http://www.roniza.com/products/downloads.
In addition to some bug fixes, this release includes a method for DICOM Media Creator using single command.
The ScanAndCreate method added to DCXDICOMDIR enables a simple creation of DICOMDIR file for an existing folder with DICOM files. This method also have a 'strict' flag that can be used to enforce or relieve the standard rules for DICOMDIR files.
Additionally, this release includes some new test applications in C++ and C# that demonstrate the use of features added since release 1.0.0.7. Among them are Modality Worklist SCU, Modality Performed Procedure Step SCU, DICOM Image Creation Example, Create DICOMDIR and a C-MOVE with callbacks example.

RZDCX 1.0.0.8 Released

2009-06-09T09:13:00.001-07:00

A new version of RZDCX DICOM Toolkit was released yesterday.
This release includes bug fixes as well as new features.
Some of the new features are:
- A UID generator
- Jpeg and Jpeg Lossless compression including lossless jpeg color compression
- Palette color transformation
- Convert DICOM to Bitmap
For free evaluation copies and full documentation visit our web site.

Win32 registration problem in v 1.0.0.5

2009-04-19T01:45:00.000-07:00

A problem registering and using version 1.0.0.5 from the download page was reported.
Please use the updated v 1.0.0.6 patch from the download page.

Known bug: Linking tables using same key field

2009-03-30T13:43:00.000-07:00

The following problem was reported and identified ion HL7Kit Pro.
The program fails to identify a parent-child relationship between two tables where the relationship columns have the same name for example if two tables have a foreign key where the primary key column name is 'id' and the foreign key column is also called 'id'.

Workaround: rename one of the columns.

Ticket #: 146

HL7Kit Pro Example project

2009-03-30T13:31:00.000-07:00

Following the release of HL7Kit Pro, we'll be uploading sample projects to demonstrate the functionality of this great product.

The first example, just uploaded today, shows how to use HL7Kit Pro to process an incomming patient admit message (ADT^A01 Event).

The example includes a zip file with readme instructions, a SQL script to create the example database, a mapping file and a test message.

Just follow the instructions in the readme file.

New Release of RZDCX 1.0.0.5

2009-03-27T00:57:00.000-07:00

RZDCX 1.0.05 is release with new features and bug fixes.
Most noteable are the new compression options and fixes to enable better creation of DICOM Image Objects.

Here are the new features and bug fixes:

135 Save file does not create Part 10 Meta Header
136 Sequence Elements are not encoded correctly when saving
137 Added compression options for Jpeg Lossless and Jpeg Lossy
138 OnStoreDone is not called if C-STORE failed
139 CommitFiles and CommitInstances return empty string
140 Added C++ Image Example
141 Query sends cancel when it should continue (true/false mismatch)
142 Float-2-String test failes due to double-float mismatch
143 Setting sequence with empty iterator never returns

HL7Kit Pro 1.2 Released!

2009-03-24T02:37:00.000-07:00

We're proud to announce the release of HL7Kit Pro.
This product is the full version of HL7Kit and HL7FreeSender that were released in 2008.

With HL7Kit Pro you're just 20 minutes away from HL7 Integration.
No programming required!

Checkout the product site at www.roniza.com/hl7kit_products.html

Here's a screen shot of the GUI Interface Design Tool.

HL7Kit 1.0.0.0 - a new HL7 Software

2008-11-17T12:15:00.000-08:00

HL7Kit is a continuation of the HL7Sender that was released almost a month ago. This package is a subset of our upcoming HL7 Interface Development Suite and Integration Services carrying the same name (with optional Pro/Enterprise edition).
The current package can be downloaded from our web site and includes two applications for validating, editing, sending, receiving and processing HL7 v2.x messages.

The first application, HL7Sender, is an improved version with message editing area featuring Synchronized Structure and Content views of the HL7 Message and a save as XML option (from File/Save As menu item) for creating comprehensive and very useful representation of HL7 v2.x messages as HL7 XML. Clicking a node on the left panel tree view highlights the corresponding text in the right panel text box and vice versa. HL7Sender is currently a freeware.

The second application, HL7Reciever, is a powerful brand new application for receiving, validating and processing HL7 messages over TCP/IP connections. HL7Reciver runs a network listener and waits for incoming connections. When a message is received it can be saved automatically either as HL7 or as XML file (or both). In addition, you can configure HL7Reciever to start a new process and pass the saved message as a parameter (by default, the message is saved in XML format and opened using internet explorer). The behavior of HL7Reciver is controlled by no less than 6 Checkboxes! But don’t worry, it is rather straight forward and the tooltips explains it all. HL7Reciever can save logs to text files and has an event log as well that can be used for monitoring and auditing (Vista users, when running HL7Reciver for the first time, run it as administrator so it can create the event log).
As you can read, HL7Reciever is a very handy tool with lots of useful options. This package includes a 30 days fully functional free trial version that requires online registration. The licensed software is currently sold online for $150 USD. For purchase please follow this link.

One last note about the message structure. Check this post for a short explanation of how to modify the message structure definition files. Note also that the XML hierarchical structure is defined by this configuration. The field names in the XML are defined in the segment definition file and can be modified as well.

As already mentioned above, HL7Kit is a subset of HL7 Integration Suite that is coming very soon. Check this blog for updates or reigster for the feed to get updates on this product, how to use it and more.

Editing the message rules used by HL7Kit

2008-11-17T12:00:00.000-08:00

The message rules configuration file msgRules.251 is using a similar notation to the one used in the HL7 Standard documentation.
Every line in the file represents one message definition.
The first element is the event type.
When the event type is followed by a semicolon and another event type that means that the structure of the message is defined by the event type on the left is identical to the one with event type on the right. In the example above ADT^A03 is defined to have an identical structure as ADT^A02.
When the event type is followed by a colon, a list of segment names and special grouping characters follow.
The special grouping characters are:

Aliases
Elements that are not special characters or a valid segment names are regarded as aliases. Aliases are used to group segments into entities. For example, in the ADT^A01 an alias called ‘patient’ is defined. Note that the alias name comes AFTER the segments group.

Regsitering RZDCX on Vista

2008-11-06T13:06:00.000-08:00

To register RZDCX on vista:
run cmd as administrator
cd to the directory where you unpacjed rzdcx.dll
regsvr32 rzdcx.dll

If you are using Vista x64, register the x64 version of rzdcx.

Free HL7 Message Sender Utility

2008-10-28T12:43:00.000-07:00

As part of our ongoing development, we create all kind of utilities and test applications. Sometimes the story ends here. But occasionally we find some of the development by products worthwhile and decide to spend some more effort and remove the 'by'.
HL7Sender is a utility for sending HL7 messages through the network. It is rather simple, single form application with very few features. It can read, write, validate and send HL7 messages.
The upper part of the form shows the message in a rich text control where it can be edited. Be careful with these edits. Every HL7 segment starts in a new line. The best way to edit the message is simply to cut and paste segments from other messages (you can open multiple instances of the program) or fill text between two | signs (field separator).
At the lower part of the form there are a few text fields where the user can set the MLP network protocol elements, the TCP/IP protocol attributes (destination host name or IP address, port number and timeouts) and disable or enable ACK’s.
HL7Sender uses Igor Chernizer’s HL7ImEx HL7 parser and the two message structure text configuration files (segDefs and msgRules) are located in the installation folder and can be edited manually if necessary. The user can duplicate these files with different suffixes in order to use multiple ‘flavors’ of the HL7 version. The flavor’s suffix can be set in the ‘Message configuration version’ text box (don’t forget the dot ‘.’).
HL7Sender is currently free and can be downloaded from http://www.roniza.com/HL7Sender_1_0_0.zip.

Building the sample applications using Visual Studio 2005

2008-09-13T08:54:00.001-07:00

RZDCX Sample Applications include Visual Studio 2008 (Version 9) project files.
To build a sample application using Visual Studio 2005 or older versions, create an empty project and add the source files to it. In the project file set the 'use precompiled headers' option to false or add the "#include stdafx.h" instruction to the source file.
Most of the samples consist of exactly one source file so this should not be very complicated.

RZDCX Release 1.0.0.4

2008-09-03T01:42:00.000-07:00

RZDCX Release 1.0.0.4 is now available for download. This release introduces major improvements and bug fixes.

Following are some highlights of the major improvements in this release.

Multi-Threading
DICOM Server Applications are usually required to handled multiple concurrent associations. Release 1.0.0.4 includes Multi-Threaded sample applications both in C# and in C++.

At first glance the multi-threading model that we chose might look a bit strange because the application event loop is actually handled in the worker thread (See for example MultithreadedServerExample AssocHandler DoWork). This paradigm was chosen because of some limitations that COM and .NET interop enforce with MTA's.

Error Handling
Release 1.0.0.4 of RZDCX provides detailed log descriptions using the COM Error Handling framework.
When adding the error handling framework, we tried to provide the most accurate error text that can be presented to the user. Since RZDCX exposes a very High Level Programming API, every API call encapsulates many DICOM primitives and therefore we had to choose the correct message to show.
The error text is aimed to provide good diagnostics information. This means for example that if a file failed to send then the error will be of the send failure even if there were also problems in the association release command.
In C++ Use the _com_error::Description() method to get the error message.
In C# use the System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException Message property to the error message.

Backwords Competibility of release 1.0.0.4
In release 1.0.0.3 the dictionary method LookupTagByName was part of the Requester class (DCXREQ). In release 1.0.0.4 we've added a new Dictionary class (DCXDIC) that handles the task of tag names and numbers look-ups.

Migration to Visual Studio 2008
Release 1.0.0.4 was built using Visual Studio 2008. The DLL however is statically linked (what makes it a bit big) so there should not be any dependency problems.

Bug Fixes
Ticket 20: RZDCX MovePatient negotiates wrong SOP Class
Negotiates Study Root Move but tries to move on Patient Root.

Ticket 22: DCXACC Creates temporary file even if user provided a name
The call to the user callback should be before creating the temporary file and not after. Otherwise if the user provides a name, two files are created: the temp one and the user one and the temp one is left empty.

RZDCX Release 1.0.0.3

2008-06-09T04:01:00.000-07:00

RZDCX Release 1.0.0.3 was released on 26th May 2008. A fully functional evaluation copy with full source code examples and documentation can be downloaded from www.roniza.com/downloads.
Although this is the first time that the toolkit is available for download from the Internet, RZDCX is not a new product. We have been using RZDCX internally on our projects for more then a year now.