Simply put, DICOM tags are meta-data elements that are associated with each DICOM image object.
Traditionally, when an X-RAY film is developed, the patient demographics can be printed directly on the film itself.
Since the X-RAY today is now digital, the image and the demographics are digitally combined into one file.
Each line of information can be considered a DICOM tag. For example, a tag for accession number (0008,0050). A tag of the date of study (0008,0020). So on. These tags are helpful in the organization of the patient images. A user can search for these images based on the data within the DICOM tags.
Examples of DICOM Tags
| Tag | Name | Keyword | VR |
|---|---|---|---|
| (0008,0016) | SOP Class UID | SOPClassUID | UI |
| (0008,0018) | SOP Instance UID | SOPInstanceUID | UI |
| (0008,001A) | Related General SOP Class UID | RelatedGeneralSOPClassUID | UI |
| (0008,001B) | Original Specialized SOP Class UID | OriginalSpecializedSOPClassUID | UI |
| (0008,0020) | Study Date | StudyDate | DA |
| (0008,0021) | Series Date | SeriesDate | DA |
| (0008,0022) | Acquisition Date | AcquisitionDate | DA |
| (0008,002A) | Acquisition DateTime | AcquisitionDateTime | DT |
| (0008,0030) | Study Time | StudyTime | TM |
| (0008,0031) | Series Time | SeriesTime | TM |
| (0008,0032) | Acquisition Time | AcquisitionTime | TM |
| (0008,0033) | Content Time | ContentTime | TM |
| (0008,0050) | Accession Number | AccessionNumber | SH |
| (0008,0051) | Issuer of Accession Number Sequence | IssuerOfAccessionNumberSequence | SQ |
| (0008,0052) | Query/Retrieve Level | QueryRetrieveLevel | CS |
| (0008,0053) | Query/Retrieve View | QueryRetrieveView | CS |
| (0008,0054) | Retrieve AE Title | RetrieveAETitle | AE |
| (0008,0055) | Station AE Title | StationAETitle | AE |
| (0008,0056) | Instance Availability | InstanceAvailability | CS |
| (0008,0058) | Failed SOP Instance UID List | FailedSOPInstanceUIDList | UI |
| (0008,0060) | Modality | Modality | CS |
Click the external site link below to view the full list of DICOM tags from NEMA
DICOM tags are made possible through the digital combination of the image file along with the meta-data.
