.NET DICOM Libraries [closed]

Question

I have used DICOM using MERGECOM when I was in GE Healthcare in 2005. After that I don't have much knowledge in the DICOM system.

Now we have a requirement for implementing PACS system using .NET platform.

Can you recommend a decent, good, community supported .NET based DICOM library or framework? or Do you know any commercial libraries for DICOM which support .NET?

Answer 1

The ClearCanvas library is a good option. I'm a bit biased because I work on it, but its actively maintained, is used by a number of commercial products, and is used by the other ClearCanvas products. The ClearCanvas products are deployed in a production environment against a number of other DICOM implementations with good interoperability.

You can register on the website and download the SDK, which includes the DICOM library, or you can access the ClearCanvas GitHub Repository directly as detailed here.

Answer 2

Fellow Oak DICOM is a newer DICOM implementation in C#. It is offshot of mDCM and is maintained by the same developer who wrote mDCM. Note that there is also a forum for Fellow Oak DICOM here.

Answer 3

Another option is the mDCM library. An early release of this library formed the basis of the ClearCanvas DICOM library. Its a bit more of a lower level interface than the ClearCanvas library, but it is also a decent choice.

Answer 4

You should also try GDCM out.

GDCM is an open source implementation of the DICOM standard. It offers some compatibility with ACR-NEMA 1.0 & 2.0 files (raw files). It is written in portable C++ and offers wrapping to the following target languages (via the use of swig):

• Python (supported),
• C# (supported),
• Java (supported),

It attempts to support all possible DICOM image encodings, namely:

• RAW,
• JPEG lossy 8 & 12 bits (ITU-T T.81, ISO/IEC IS 10918-1),
• JPEG lossless 8-16 bits (ITU-T T.81, ISO/IEC IS 10918-1),
• JPEG 2000 reversible & irreversible (ITU-T T.800, ISO/IEC IS 15444-1),
• RLE,
• Deflated (compression at DICOM Dataset level),
• JPEG-LS (ITU-T T.87, ISO/IEC IS 14495-1),

Pay attention that:

• ACR NEMA 2.0 with LZW (not supported for now),
• JPEG 2000 Multi-component reversible & irreversible (ISO/IEC IS 15444-2) (not supported for now),

Answer 5

If you're looking for a native .NET DICOM Framework have a look at MyDICOM at www.mydicom.net. It has been around since .NET 1.1 and does not use any of the fancy stuff introduced in later versions of .NET.

I work at GE Healthcare and we've created a C# DICOM toolkit of our own that works perfectly for us but you should be quite careful to opt for that since writing a good DICOM framework is not to be underestimated. BTW: that toolkit is not for sale.

Answer 6

Have you tried the DVTk .NET libraries. It is open source.

http://www.dvtk.org/modules/wiwimod/index.php?page=DVTk+Library&cmenu=developer

Answer 7

Another commercial .NET DICOM SDK to try is LEADTOOLS. There is a PACS framework that ties with HTML5 DICOM viewer for rapid solution development. You can download the fully functional evaluation version from the site.

Please note that I work for LEAD Technologies.

Answer 8

Sorry for the multiple answers to the question, but due to the nature of the question, it makes sense to have multiple answers so users can vote each individual DICOM library up or down, depending on their experience.

Since you mentioned MergeCOM-3, Merge does also have a .NET wrapper to their standard library, as you can see on their website here. They have the User's Manual online for you to download and view to get a flavor of their implementation. If you're considering commercial options, it is also a possibility.