Disassembling an ultra sound DICOM clip

[tsa256]

Hello everyone,

Recently some peers and I have begun a project which required the acquisition and manipulation of DICOM images from a 2D ultrasound. Our goal is to efficiently break up and sort the various clips received from the ultrasound module into distinct images that LabVIEW can handle. Then, save them in a manipulable format and onto proper median for further processing.

The main problem our experiencing is how to dissect these images in a LabVIEW environment. I have done some research on the DICOM image standard revealing various information such as the 128 bytes of unused preamble, the 794 byte DICOM header with text information and then the actual image. So far we are unable to construct a successful method to extract specific information such as timestamps, and patient name, then successfully pair it with the independent image in a format that LabVIEW can manipulate.

Basically, we are looking to break the DICOM header and image into independent information then pair specific information from the header to the coordinating image.

Within our group we have moderate LabVIEW experience but only have a very vague idea of how to complete this project. I’ve done some reading on the DICOM medical image standard but not entirely sure what the best way to implement a functioning system within the LabVIEW developing environment. I am aware LabVIEW has no native support for DICOM images, and this seems to be the biggest obstacle. Does anyone has any ideas or suggestions on how to handle these images within the LabVIEW environment.

Also, I heard that in a future release of the Biomedical kit it would support DICOM image handling. Does anyone know when this is expected.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Taylor S. Amarel

[The_Chancenator]

Hi Taylor,

It may be easiest to actually convert the images to a supported type before you bring them into LabVIEW.  There are some DICOM->JPG or BMP converters out there; have you tried using some of these.

Also, you are not the only person to have tried this.  There is some noise on the discussion forums about this image conversion.  I'd recommend checking out this post in particular, which has a library attached that seems like it would do the conversion for you: http://forums.ni.com/t5/Machine-Vision/dicom-server-client

/m-p/488886?requireLogin=False

Good luck!

Marti

[DFGray]

I believe ImageMagick supports DICOM, and it has a command line interface, making it easy to use from LabVIEW.  Convert the plane you want from DICOM to PNG or JPG, then import to LabVIEW.

[tsa256]

Thanks Marti and DFGray. Props for the quick response!

I was worried that it might be difficult to integrate a independant DICOM converter with LabVIEW but your suggestions resulted in success. I was able to successfully automate a conversion process using the command line. Although I typically attempt to complete my projects with as few cadiacs and work arounds as possible I believe this will work just fine.

Additionally, if anyone could confirm that the future biomedical kit is going to support DICOM images and when the expected release is that be great.

Thanks you! Best regards,
Taylor S. Amarel

[ZJ.Gu]

Hi,

The future biomedical startup kit will support DICOM images. Can you please attach some test DICOM files here?

Thanks!

[tsa256]

Hello,

Attached are some sample DICOM images that I hope to process with LabVIEW.  Also with the future Biomedical kit will there be source code for DICOM processing. I'm hoping to be able to do some low level DICOM processing and I believe the source code would be of great use. Finally, does any know the suspected release date of this kit. I ask because if it does not meet my project schedule I may invest my time in third party processing.

Thanks very much.
Taylor S. Amarel

Message was edited by: Taylor Amarel (Incorrect File Upload.)

[ZJ.Gu]

Hi，

The future version will come soon. As it is the first release for DICOM image, Biomedical Startup Kit will not support low level DICOM processing. The main feature for this release is to read the image data from DICOM and reconstruct 3D image from the 2D series like this using your data:

Thanks!

ZJ Gu

National Instruments

[tsa256]

Thanks, Zhijun Gu. I will certainly keep posted with the upcoming release of the biomedical kit.

Cheers!
Taylor S. Amarel

[The_Chancenator · Accepted solution]

Hey Taylor,

I know that you were looking for support for DICOM images--check out the latest release of the Biomedical Startup Kit:

http://decibel.ni.com/content/docs/DOC-12783

http://decibel.ni.com/content/docs/DOC-12784

Cheers!

Marti