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Tipsheet - Installing and Using DICOM

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Tipsheet - Installing and Using DICOM

Uploaded by

Jose Navas Tapia
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Tip Sheet: Installing and Using DICOM Compression

Software
One of the requirements for online processing of Immigration Medical Examinations (IME) through eMedical is
the radiology clinic must upload DICOM x-ray images. As the DICOM X-ray images are quite large they cannot
be uploaded directly into eMedical and must be compressed using DICOM Compression tool software. This
tip sheet will provide you the instructions for downloading and using a free DICOM compression tool.

Note: These instructions are for Windows based PCs

A- How to download the software?


1. To download the DICOM compression tool software click on the link:

Click here to download DICOM_Compression_Tool

2. The following screen will open in the browser. Click on Download and then click on Direct
download.

a. If you are using Internet Explorer:


 You will see the following dialogue at the bottom of your screen - select Save  Save as and
choose a drive of your computer (e.g. C: drive) where you would like to install the software and
click Save.

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Note: The file must be saved directly under the selected drive e.g. C drive and not in any sub folders.
 Open the DICOM_Compression_Tool.zip and you will see the DICOM_Compression_Tool
folder.

 Within this folder there are 3 subfolders:


Compressed_xrays

DICOM_compressor

Original_xrays

 Move the above DICOM_Compression_Tool folder to the selected drive.

a. If you are using Mozilla Firefox:


 The following dialogue window appears - select Save File and click OK.

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 The file will download and save in the Download folder.

 After the download has completed, open the DICOM_Compression_Tool.zip file in the
Downloads folder and you will see the DICOM_Compression_Tool folder.

Within this folder there are 3 subfolders:


Compressed_xrays

DICOM_compressor

Original_xrays

 Select a drive on your computer where you would like to save the software (e.g. C: drive).
 Move the above DICOM_Compression_Tool folder to the selected drive.

b. If you are using Internet Explorer:

3. If you wish, you could create shortcuts to the Compressed_xrays and Original_xrays folders on your
desktop by right clicking the file and selecting Send To ► Desktop (create shortcut) for both folders

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Note: On your desktop the folders will appear as Original_x-rays - Shortcut and Compressed_x-rays –
Shortcut. These shortcuts are for your convenience only.
4. Create a shortcut to the compression software by right-clicking the dicom.jar file within the
DICOM_compressor folder and selecting Send To  Desktop (create shortcut).

Note: If the .jar file does not work then, you can create a shortcut to the dicom.bat file instead.

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How to set up the DICOM compression tool setting?
Before using the compression tool you must set the following software settings
1. Double click the shortcut (dicom.jar or dicom.bat) on your desktop.

The DICOM compression tool – Home Affairs opens.

2. Select the Tools menu (top left corner) and click on Preference - or use the shortcut Ctrl +F.

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The System configuration screen opens.

3. Set the root path to the location of the DICOM_Compressor folder by pressing the icon - for
example if you saved the DICOM_Compressor folder in your C drive, the root path would be:

C:\DICOM_Compression_Tool\DICOM_Compressor

4. Set up root paths for the input directory (i.e Original_xrays) and output directory (i.e
Compressed_xrays).
5. Save a copy of the original uncompressed x-ray image file with a .dcm extension (see ‘Exporting images
from PACS’ below) in the Original_xrays - Shortcut folder and then click on the icon underneath
Select a DICOM file and select the file.

6. Click on the icon underneath Choose the output directory to set up root path to the output
directory i.e Compressed_xrays (that is, where the compressed image will be automatically saved).

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Note: You will need to specify the root paths in the above steps once only.

Note: If you are also processing IMEs for AUS/IRCC/INZ, then you will need to select the radio
button to compress the x-ray images, enter the compression ratio number for the Quality of Compression
image. You must enter the same compression ratio that you are currently using for the compression of x-ray
images for these countries.

The DICOM compression tool is now set up for use.

Exporting images from PACS:


If you are extracting original x-ray images from the PACS then:
1. Open your PACS and locate your client’s x-ray image. Select File from the PACS menu bar and Export
DICOM.
Note: You must always export the image as DICOM, and just the image not with DICOM viewers.
2. Export the image into the Original_xrays (or Original_xrays - Shortcut) folder.
3. Open the Original _xrays (or Original_xrays - Shortcut) folder and you will find a DICOM folder has
been created.

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4. Open the DICOM folder and sub folders to locate the client’s x-ray image.
5. Move the client’s x-ray image into the Original _xrays (or Original_xrays – Shortcut) folder (the image
needs to be directly under the Original_xrays (or Original_xrays – Shortcut) folder - you can then delete
the DICOM folder that was created by PACS.
6. Rename the image by following the recommended naming convention listed in the ‘Tipsheet –
Understanding attachments’ and add .dcm at the end. The x-ray image file name should not include any
spaces - if you need to break up words in the file name please use an underscore “_” instead – for
example: Smith_4568230_CXR.dcm

Exporting images from a CD:


If you are extracting original x-ray images from a CD, then you need to:
1. Insert the CD that you have received from the Radiology in the CD drive of your computer.
2. On your computer click on the Start button and click Computer.
Note: Do not let the CD to ‘auto-run’.

3. Open the DICOM folder (generally it would be the first folder among the contents on the CD) and any sub
folders to locate the client’s x-ray image.
4. Copy (or use the mouse to drag) the client’s x-ray image into the Original _xrays (or Original_xrays -
Shortcut) folder. Rename the image to the client’s name and/or health case ID and add .dcm at the end,
for example: Smith_4568230_CXR.dcm

B- How to compress DICOM images


Note: You must save the clients’ original (uncompressed) x-ray image files in the Original_xrays - Shortcut
folder.
1. To compress an image, locate the client’s uncompressed image (that you wish to compress) within the

Original_xrays folder by clicking on the folder icon underneath Select a DICOM file and click
Open.

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2. Click Compress.
Once the image has been compressed, a message will appear at the bottom of the compression tool advising
the conversion has been successful (if the image was successfully compressed).

The compressed image will be automatically sitting in the Compressed_xrays (or Compressed_xrays –
Shortcut) folder.

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