Critical Data Elements

In this manual, we use the term "Critical Data Elements" for those DEs that are used to help load a DICOM image correctly. It's important to note that when certain IP methods are called, the toolkit alters the Data Set. For example, when an aspect of the image has been altered (for instance, by image processing), such that the Critical DEs no longer correctly describe the image, the Data Set has to be altered. When the image is actually saved, ImageGear also analyzes the DIB and set its own values for the Critical Data Elements of the file being saved. The original values are ignored.

The Critical Data Elements are:

(0028,0010)	Rows
(0028,0011)	Columns
(0028,0100)	Bits Allocated
(0028,0101)	Bits Stored
(0028,0102)	High Bit
(0028,0004)	Photometric Interpretation
(0028,0103)	Pixel Representation
(0028,0002)	Samples per pixel
(0028,0006)	Planar Configuration
(7FE0,0010)	Pixel Data

PixelData DE does not contain any actual data; it is always empty. The actual pixel data is stored in ImageGear's DIB, to which the DataSet is attached. Value Representation and Value Length of the Pixel Data tag correspond to VR and VL of PixelData tag, if the DIB is saved to an uncompressed image.