How Do I Download Pictures from DICOM?

Have you ever gone for a medical scan like an MRI or CT scan and wanted copies of the images for your records?

The images from these scans are usually stored in a format called DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine).

Getting copies view DICOM images online for personal use can be confusing, but is often possible if you know the right steps.

This guide will walk you through exactly how to view DICOM images online and download them to keep copies for yourself from any web browser or device.

How Do I Download DICOM Image Files?

You have a few options to retrieve your images depending on where you had your exam performed.

Download Options By Imaging Provider

How you access your DICOM images will differ based on what healthcare system, hospital, or imaging center you had your scan at.

Here are some common scenarios:

●      Hospital Patient Portal - Many large hospitals provide patient portals on their website where you can access your medical records electronically, including imaging scans. There may be an option to download your DICOM studies.

●      Imaging Center Patient CD - Smaller imaging centers will likely burn your DICOM images onto a physical CD/DVD when you complete your scan. Ask for a copy before leaving.

●      Radiologist Content Sharing - The radiologist who interprets your imaging exam can share a link to download DICOM files through secure web-sharing platforms they have access to.

●      PACS Admin Support - The Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) team at a hospital managing storage of scans might be able to assist in providing your DICOMs on request.

If none of those options are feasible for your situation, as a last resort, services like Radiology Request can help track down your DICOM images for a fee by contacting your imaging providers directly.

Reaching out to your doctor's office or the medical records department at the hospital where your test occurred is the best first step to understanding how to access your images.

Download and Store DICOM Files

Once you have a link to download your DICOM scans, the process is straightforward:

1. Click the download link which will likely be from a HIPAA-compliant temporary cloud store location or secure FTP folder.
2. Select to download the full study which could be hundreds of MBs or more depending on the exam type.
3. Choose where to save the DICOM files on your personal computer or external hard drive.
4. Verify all images downloaded properly and fully by checking the folders.

Now you have your original DICOM imaging files archived and available for personal use!

How to Open Downloaded DICOM Images

Alright, you've succeeded in accessing and downloading your DICOM scans. Now what?

Unfortunately, you can't simply double-click on these files to open them like typical JPG/PNG images.

Remember that DICOM images are complex binary files with metadata structured together across multiple folders.

To visualize and interact with downloaded DICOM images on your device, you need DICOM viewing software installed:

Option 1: Native DICOM Viewer Apps

For full-featured analysis and manipulation of DICOM scans, a native DICOM viewer program is ideal.

Popular free DICOM viewers include:

3DimViewer

●      Simple interface for fast-loading studies

●      Multiplanar reconstruction and 3D rendering

●      Annotations and basic tools

These give you full access to scroll slice-by-slice, customize window width/level settings, make angle and distance measurements, add annotations, manipulate 3D reconstructions, and export series or frames to standard images.

Some limitations are that native apps may not work on all operating systems, studies with thousands of images can get slow, and comparing multiple studies side-by-side is difficult.

Option 2: Web-Based Viewer Bookmarks

If going through the hassle of installing a desktop program seems unappealing, remember those handy online DICOM viewers we covered earlier?

You can utilize them to view downloaded DICOM files right in your web browser by dragging/dropping DICOM files/folders into the viewer page you have opened.

I suggest bookmarking or saving a homepage icon for an online viewer like Weasis or dicom.js to provide quick, convenient access to your images at any time without needing an application.

Share DICOM Studies With Doctors

Now that you have your DICOM imaging study files, it's easy to share them with any physicians you want to consult with!

Rather than emailing dozens of attachments or fumbling with discs, simply upload your study to a cloud storage service like Google Drive or Dropbox and generate a share link.

Or use secure medical imaging sharing services like DICOM Library that create a temporary virtual study room others can access with just a link for HIPAA-compliant exchange.