Sending Images to a DICOM Server

Having created or edited an image, you may want to send it to a DICOM server for storage. If an image has ROIs displayed on it at the time you send it, the ROIs will also be sent as a private DICOM element. Unless private elements are removed by your DICOM server, if you subsequently retrieve the image using Jim, the ROIs will also be retrieved.

If you have problems with DICOM Send and have checked the configuration of both Jim and the remote DICOM node, then please see the DICOM debugging section which will help pinpoint the problem. You can also download our DICOM conformance statement which may help in the setting up of your remote DICOM nodes to communicate with Jim.

To send the current displayed image to a DICOM server, select "DICOM Send ..." from the File menu:

This will bring up the DICOM Send dialog:

• Application Entity (AE) title. This is the name by which Jim's DICOM Send application is know to the remote DICOM node where the image is to be sent. The default is "XIN_PACS", but you can set it to what you wish by clicking the button next to the current title (which is shown in blue).
• Timeout. This is the time allowed before inactive connections are dropped. The default is 60 seconds, which is usually adequate, but you may wish to increase this is your remote DICOM node is exceptionally busy.
• Logging. Disabled by default. If enabled, a log of storage activities appears in the scrollable window below the configuration parameters.
• Tell Jim about the remote node you want to send to by selecting Add Node ... from the Node menu:

  This brings up the remote node configuration dialog:

  

  Enter:

  • A name for the remote node. This can be any name you want to help identify the remote node (e.g., "MRI_SCANNER").
  • The I/P address for the remote node. Contact your I.T. department or equipment supplier if you do not know this.
  • The port used by the remote node. Port 104 is the standard port for DICOM communications, and you should use this unless your equipment supplier tells you otherwise.
  • The Application Entity title for the remote node. Again, contact your equipment supplier if you do not know this.
  If the remote node has already been set up to accept connections from Jim, click the button to perform a DICOM Verify. If the DICOM verification succeeds, you will see a pop-up message like:

  

  If verification fails, there are various possible causes. Some example error messages include:
  • Connection timed out. Probably the remote node is either not on the network, or is not up and running. Check that you can ping the remote node's I/P address.
  • Connection refused. The port number may be incorrect, or the AE title may be incorrect. Please check that there is match of both of these in the configuration of Jim and the remote node.
  • Association rejected. The AE title used by Jim is unacceptable to the remote node, probably because of mis-configuration.

  Click the button to save these values when you are happy that the configuration is correct.

  You can add as many remote nodes as you wish using this procedure, and these will be available for query every time you start Jim. The nodes you add will now appear in the Node menu so that you can select which node you want to query.

If DICOM Send does not appear to be sending images to the remote DICOM node, then you can enable debug logging, by pressing the button next to the Debug logging configuration. This brings up a dialog to enable debugging of DICOM Send.

Click the button to send the current displayed image to the remote DICOM node you have selected.

In order to successfully send an image to a remote DICOM node, the image must contain certain compulsory pieces of information, such as the patient name and patient ID. If the information is not present in the image, you will be guided through a series of dialogs so that you can provide any missing information. You can cancel at any point, in which case the image will not be sent.

Note: DICOM servers can only handle image that are 8-bit or 16-bit integer, or colour pixel formats. If the image is not in one of these formats, the pixel intensity data will be automatically scaled to fit within the allowed range.

Click the button when you are finished sending images.