| DICOM PS3.17 2026d - Explanatory Information |
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The nature of information reported in the RDSR will depend on the type of procedures performed, the different system designs of the equipment generating radiation, and the modality workflow.
The radiation dose metrics and technical parameters that are relevant to be reported depend on the type of procedure. For instance,
The technology and degree of integration of the equipment (X-Ray detector, X-Ray source, and positioner subsystems) will determine the available information that can be collected about those subsystems and their configuration parameters.
For instance, the RDSR produced by the detector subsystem would not be able to contain data related to the generation of the radiation if the generator is not digitally integrated with the detector.
Further, a system creating the RDSR might not necessarily generate the irradiation itself, but rather an ancillary system may do it based on the irradiation details obtained by manual input and/or some proprietary method.
The radiation dose information is recorded at different points in the acquisition workflow depending on the modality. For instance, for a CT scan, a single RDSR may typically be created at the end of the acquisition. Conversely, in angiography studies, an RDSR with the scope of accumulation "Procedure Step To This Point" will contain partial information of the procedure up to the time when the RDSR is created, while a later RDSR with scope of accumulation "Study" will contain the complete information of the study.
RDSR interoperability requires that implementers and interpreters of RDSR have the same understanding on how the different DICOM Templates and Content Items should be populated based on the real-world scenarios of irradiation generation and system data collection for the different types of procedures.
The following subsections provide an overview of these real-world scenarios in X-Ray angiography, radiography/fluoroscopy, radiography, mammography, computed tomography, and dentistry. While the procedures described hereafter follow a similar high-level workflow in terms of irradiation generation, data collection, and radiation dose reporting, the exact workflow steps for each scenario may vary, resulting in different ways to report the data.
A common concept of all these procedures is the Irradiation Event, which is defined as "the loading of X-Ray equipment caused by a single continuous actuation of the equipment's irradiation switch, from the start of the loading time of the first pulse until the loading time trailing edge of the final pulse." Each Irradiation Event is identified by a UID.
A key motivation for having DICOM Dose Objects is that an Irradiation Event may not necessarily result in a stored DICOM image, and thus the image header is not a reliable source of dose information. On the other hand, a single Irradiation Event may result in the creation of multiple DICOM images from the same acquired raw data.
Both the Traditional and Enhanced RDSR include information summarizing dosimetry values across the scope of accumulation. The inclusion of such data is for convenience for users of RDSRs so that relevant data is readily available for viewing or interpretation, particularly by users. The underlying data used to generate the summary values relevant to a particular system are available in the Irradiation Events within the RDSR, allowing any user or interpreting system to derive summary values for themselves. A potential benefit of not relying on the summary values is the ability to use additional details of each event, e.g., X-Ray beam characteristics or geometry, as part of such calculations.
| DICOM PS3.17 2026d - Explanatory Information |
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