A simple question as i am developing a java application based on dcm4che ...
I want to calculate/find the "position" of a dicom image into its sequence (series). By position i mean to find if this image is first, second etc. in its series. More specifically i would like to calculate/find:
Number of slices into a Sequence
Position of each slice (dicom image) into the Sequence
For the first question i know i can use tag 0020,1002 (however it is not always populated) ... For the second one?
If you are dealing with volumetric image series, best way to order your series is to use the Image Position (Patient) (0020, 0032). This is a required Type 1 tag (should always have value) and it is part of the image plane module. It will contain the X, Y and Z values coordinates representing the upper left corner of the image in mm. If the slices are parallel to each other, only one value should change between the slices. Please note that the Slice Location (0020, 1041) is an optional (Type 3) element and it may not exist in the DICOM file.
We use the InstanceNumber tag (0x0020, 0x0013) as our first choice for the slice position. If there is no InstanceNumber, or if they are all the same, then we use the SliceLocation tag (0x0020, 0x1041). If neither tag is available, then we give up.
We check the InstanceNumber tag such that the Max(InstanceNumber) - Min(InstanceNumber) + 1 is equal to the number of slices we have in the sequence (just in case some manufacturers start counting at 0 or 1, or even some other number). We check the SliceLocation the same way.
This max - min + 1 is then the number of slices in the sequence (substitute for tag ImagesInAcquisition 0x0020, 0x1002).
Without the ImagesInAcquisition tag, we have no way of knowing in advance how many slices to expect...
I would argue that if the slice location is available, use that. It will be more consistent with the image acquisition. If it is not available, then you'll have to use or compute from the image position (patient) attribute. Part 3 section C.7.6.2.1 has details on these attributes.
The main issue comes when you have a series that is oblique. If you just use the z-value of the image position (patient), it may not change by the slice thickenss/spacing between slices attributes, while the slice location typically will. That can cause confusion to end users.
