DICOM^® — Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine — is the international standard for medical images and related information. It defines the formats for medical images that can be exchanged with the data and quality necessary for clinical use.

DICOM^® is implemented in almost every radiology, cardiology imaging, and radiotherapy device (X-ray, CT, MRI, ultrasound, etc.), and increasingly in devices in other medical domains such as ophthalmology and dentistry. With hundreds of thousands of medical imaging devices in use, DICOM^® is one of the most widely deployed healthcare messaging Standards in the world. There are literally billions of DICOM^® images currently in use for clinical care.

Since its first publication in 1993, DICOM^® has revolutionized the practice of radiology, allowing the replacement of X-ray film with a fully digital workflow. Much as the Internet has become the platform for new consumer information applications, DICOM^® has enabled advanced medical imaging applications that have “changed the face of clinical medicine”. From the emergency department, to cardiac stress testing, to breast cancer detection, DICOM^® is the standard that makes medical imaging work — for doctors and for patients.

DICOM^® is recognized by the International Organization for Standardization as the ISO 12052 standard.