Operation Manual

552

Last updated 12/5/2011

Chapter 19: Technical imaging

For detailed instructions, click the links below. To ask questions, request features, or report problems, visit

feedback.photoshop.com.

DICOM files (Photoshop Extended)

About DICOM files (Photoshop Extended)

For a video about DICOM files, see www.adobe.com/go/vid0028.

DICOM (an acronym for Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) is the most common standard for

receiving medical scans. Photoshop Extended allows you to open and work with DICOM (.dc3, .dcm, .dic, or no

extension) files. DICOM files can contain multiple “slices” or frames, which represent different layers of a scan.

Photoshop reads all frames from a DICOM file and converts them to Photoshop layers. Photoshop can also place all

DICOM frames in a grid on one layer, or open frames as a 3D volume which you can rotate in 3D space. Photoshop

can read 8-, 10-, 12-, or 16-bit DICOM files. (Photoshop converts 10- and 12-bit files to 16-bit files.)

Once you’ve opened a DICOM file in Photoshop, you can use any Photoshop tool to adjust, mark up, or annotate the

file. For example, use the Notes tool to add a comment to the file, the Pencil tool to mark a specific area of the scan or

the Dust And Scratches filter to remove dust or scratches from a scan. Use the Ruler or selection tools to make

measurements of image content.

Note: Any measurement scale present in a DICOM file is automatically imported with the file. If no scale is present, the

default scale of 1 pixel = 1 mm is added as a custom measurement scale. See

“Set the measurement scale (Photoshop

Extended)” on page 556.

You can save 8-bit DICOM files in any file format Photoshop supports (16-bit files must be saved as DICOM, Large

Document Format, Photoshop, Photoshop PDF, Photoshop Raw, PNG, or TIFF files).

Important: When you save a file as DICOM, any layer styles, adjustments, blend modes, or masks are discarded.

You can also view and edit metadata for DICOM files in Bridge or in the Photoshop

File Info

dialog box. DICOM files support external automation through scripting (see “Scripting” on page 583).