DicoSE--a Web-interface based on XML for visualizing and searching the topology of the data structure defined by the DICOM 3 standard

Abstract

To adequately visualize and interpret the data fields of DICOM 3 datasets the data structure defined in the DICOM 3 standard has to be applied. The DICOM 3 data structure is very extensive and therefore costly to implement. We are working on an open source system which provides the data structure via a Java-programming interface. The data is held in a freely available XML-database. As a spin-off we are providing the web-based Dicom Search Engine (DicoSE) which will be available via internet soon. DicoSE allows for searching the DICOM standard data dictionary for defined data fields and visualizes the topology of the data which is present in DICOM datasets acquired by various types of modalities. Thus, the interpretation of the meaning of data fields is supported. For maintaining the data stored in the database a web-based administration interface is provided.