Common medical device terminology

DICOM: The medical digital imaging and communication standard is a standard for medical digital imaging equipment established by the American College of Radiology (ACR) and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA). DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communication In Medicine) facilitates the network connection between devices and the connection with other communication standards. The latest standard is DICOM 3.0.

Digital signals: Digital signals, a type of information transmission, where the signal changes discretely, not continuously.

Digitization: Digitization is the process of converting an analog form (continuous numeric) of a film into digital form (discrete numerical values) of information. This transformation is a necessary function of computer image applications because the visual information is in analog form, and most computers can only use digital information.

DPI: Dots Rer Inch. In traditional radiology, the resolution is generally expressed as the logarithm per millimeter (Lp/mm), and the resolution of the film digitizer is often expressed as dots per inch or as images per inch. (Pixels Per Inch).

Grayscale: Grayscale, the number of different levels or levels of grayscale that a computer system can store and display. The number of gray levels is directly related to the number of bits used per pixel. 6 bits = 64 gray scales, 7 bits = 128 gray scales, 8 bits = 256 gray scales, 10 bits = 1024 gray scales, 12 bits = 4096 gray scales, and 16 bits = 65536 gray scales.

Image Management: Image management refers to the classification, arrangement, processing, and functional grouping of stored images. Some systems allow the user to save images, but once stored they will not be rearranged, but will be saved forever in the order they are stored. This approach may cause trouble.