DICOM MRI
DICOM is a file format that is used in medical imaging. It’s like JPEGs on steroids for medical imaging. What people might not know is that DICOMs store all the necessary patient and machine parameters. The image below is from a post by Andi S via Feisal Kamil
DICOMs go hand-in-hand with PACS, picture archiving and communication systems. PACS is like a database for pictures. Without the header information, the medical staff wouldn’t be able to find your images. The radiologists rarely are present for routine scans. They get your images via PACS and tell your primary physician the results.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picture_Archiving_and_Communication_System
I created an account for Instructibles just to warn the guy that his date of birth, full name, etc is there.
Anyway, you can see from the image below that they did some kind of scan to emphasize the vasculature. The image is a MIP, maximum intensity projection. I’m not making a video because you can make out his face.
#ScienceEveryday
It’s a nice way to keep from operating on the wrong patient.
I edited to include what PACS is.
How did they emphasize the vasculature in the neck and face, Chad Haney ?
Rajini Rao it looks like a proprietary or at least trade-name pulse sequence from Philips (again, I know this because everything was left in the DICOM header). I don’t use the clinical Philips here but I can ask around. I think that they used a gadolinium based contrast agent. The scan could be a non-contrast agent based scan where they “magnetically saturate” blood entering the field of view.
You can read about Magnetic Resonance Angiography in the Wiki.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_resonance_angiography
I’ve seen my dad’s angiograms and they are startlingly clear and intricate..never thought to ask then whether they used a contrast agent and what it was 😛 Thanks for the information..looking now.
Rajini Rao if your dad was getting an angiogram for heart trouble, it probably was an x-ray based (fluoroscopy) angiogram.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angiography
I seem to recall that it showed up white against dark and not the other way around. Cool, none the less..could see the bypass a year past surgery.
White against a dark background, is somewhat arbitrary. I could have made the image above green (like the peeps) if I wanted to or “hot” colormap like the mummy bird. Good to hear the bypass worked.
Where are my pancakes, Feisal? 🙂
Listening to Pink Floyd – Alan’s Psychedelic Breakfast (2011 Remastered)
No.
Good morning Feisal Kamil
Oh, me flakes. Yes, porridge is nice. Marmalade, I like marmalade.
Which post and which lady’s profile?
Chad Haney missed my breakfast offering today 😉
A bit late to the
partybreakfast, Chad ..we gave you several shout outs 😀LOL, Circle management for the new fan club 🙂
Now he’ll be confused by the pancake and breakfast references, lol.
I have no clue Feisal. I had to take my wife to jury duty so I skipped the fractal pancakes. I’m trying to remember where I saw them before anyway.
Sometimes you can’t tell if someone posted in the wrong place by accident or if they are out of their mind on something; booze, drugs, etc.
LOL, I have encountered some of those on my comment stream 🙂
I kept my mouth shut because it’s “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt” 🙂
Sorry for pulling this thread back to the topic!
Chad Haney This indeed is an amazing piece of information!
I doubt that they use something like this in India because I’ve always seen hard copies of X-rays and other images being taken along, and many a times the staff tends to mix up the images and chaos ensues!
Such an efficient way to manage patient data, must say! 🙂
I ordered my CT images yesterday and was told they were not available yet, as they had not described them yet. The CT had to be studied by a radiologist and all the reports had to be included. Impressive. This means I will get a DVD with full info on what they found…
Yes, Knut Torgersen. Doctors often upload their findings, in text, to the PACS server in a DICOM file.
Oh, yes, they do – and they obviously made the CT DICOM files off limits until they are finished. The MRI files, however, were not described.
Well now you know not to post your DICOM files online.
Hehe – I haven’t either, I used a PNG…