DICOM elements promise improved image quality

The effectiveness of the DICOM gray-scale standard display function could be expanded in a number of areas to ensure high-quality medical image display, according to a study published in the November 2004 Journal of Digital Imaging.

Standardization would improve if practitioners followed guidelines and tools for visual and quantitative assessment of medical display quality provided by the American Association of Physicists in Medicine Task Group 18.

DICOM can expand beyond luminance response, extending measurable, quantifiable elements such as reflection and resolution.

It may also help to initiate research that will determine the clinical consequence of variations in image quality metrics and define image quality from a diagnostic perspective.