Note that when you make adjustments in the image editor you must enter the values from the Level-Window Dialog Box to the DICOM header elements if you wish to save the adjustments to the actual DICOM file (this is not automatically done for you).Let's say we got a CD from someone that tells us there's DICOM files on this CD with the information of the patient we are looking for. WW seems to be a contrast adjustment while WW seems to be brightness control (do not ask me why they are named this way). I did a bit of DICOM header comparison between files and found these elements.Īnyway, Sante DICOM editor v5 (radiograph software that is well worth the purchase price if you need to view or edit x-ray images) has a tool under View/Panes and Status Bar/Level-Window Dialog Box which allows you to adjust the image levels/contrast. I just happened to notice some of my radiographs in Sante DICOM editor were showing different image contrast between the thumbnail view and full image view and figured something had to be causing this. I finally found out that these numbers represent level adjustments, however the naming of these elements is still a mystery to me. There are two interesting DICOM elements that store image contrast levels within the DICOM header: So if a radiology technician shoots an ankle image and then uses the CR software to make adjustments, those adjustments WILL NOT be saved back to the DICOM image, unless… Saving level adjustments to the DICOM header

Also both formats prevent you from making adjustments and saving the adjustments back to the same file format (with some exceptions). Both formats store additional image information than a JPEG for instance in order to allow for greater image adjustments after the image is created.

I didn’t think of it until today but DICOM images are the equivalent of RAW file format for cameras.

Dicomdir file format