Easy DICOM Search – search parameters examples

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Working with text values

Search for exact text:

(Image.Tag('0008,0060') = 'CT')

matches CT but not ct, Ct, cT.

Search for multiple exact text:

(Image.Tag('0008,0060') In ['CT', 'MR'])

matches CT and MR, but not ct, Ct, cT, mr, Mr, mR.

Search for multiple text values (case-insensitive):

(Image.Tag('0008,0060').Match('CT, MR'))

matches CT, MR, ct, Ct, cT, mr, Mr, mR.

Search for multiple text values (case-insensitive):

(Image.Tag('0008,0060').Match('CT, MR'))

matches CT, MR, ct, Ct, cT, mr, Mr, mR.

Search for partial text matches (case-insensitive):

(Image.Tag('0008,0080').Contain('hospital'))

matches ‘Hospital of Columbia’, ‘Columbia Hospital’

Search for multiple partial text matches (case-insensitive):

(Image.Tag('0008,0080').Contain('hospital, research'))

matches ‘Hospital of Columbia’, ‘Columbia Hospital’, ‘Columbia Research Institute’, ‘Research Institute of Columbia’

Search for values starting with a specific text (case-insensitive):

(Image.Tag('0008,0080').StartWith('hospital'))

matches ‘Hospital of Columbia’ but not ‘Columbia Hospital’.

Search for values starting with multiple specific text (case-insensitive):

(Image.Tag('0008,0080').StartWith('hospital, research'))

matches ‘Hospital of Columbia’, ‘Research Institute of Columbia’, but not ‘Columbia Hospital’, ‘Columbia Research Institute’.

Search for values ending with a specific text (case-insensitive):

(Image.Tag('0008,0080').EndWith('hospital'))

matches ‘Columbia Hospital’ but not ‘Hospital of Columbia’.

Search for values ending with multiple specific text (case-insensitive):

(Image.Tag('0008,0080').EndWith('hospital, research'))

matches ‘Columbia Hospital’, ‘Columbia Research Institute’ but not ‘Hospital of Columbia’, ‘Research Institute of Columbia’.

Search for inequality values:

(Image.Tag('0008,0060') <> 'CT')

matches any value but CT.

Reverse the results of the ‘inner’ parameters:

(NOT (Image.Tag('0008,0060') = 'CT'))

Working with numbers

Match a specific value:

(Image.Tag('0010,1030') = 50)

Match one value from a list of values:

(Image.Tag('0010,1030') IN [30,33,36,39])

Match value using comparison operators:

(Image.Tag('0010,1030') > 50)
(Image.Tag('0010,1030') >= 50)
(Image.Tag('0010,1030') < 50)
(Image.Tag('0010,1030') <= 50)
(Image.Tag('0010,1030') <> 50)

Match a range of values:

(Image.Tag('0010,1030').BETWEEN(30, 60))

Reverse the results of the ‘inner’ parameters.

(NOT (Image.Tag('0010,1030').BETWEEN(30, 60)))

Working with date and time values

Dates are represented in the [year][month][day] format, so February 14, 2024 is represented as 20240214.  You then write your search parameters the same way as you would for numbers e.g.

(Image.Tag('0008,0020') = 20240214)
(Image.Tag('0008,0020') > 20240214)
(Image.Tag('0008,0020') >= 20240214)
(Image.Tag('0008,0020') < 20240214)
(Image.Tag('0008,0020') <= 20240214)
(Image.Tag('0008,0020') <> 20240214)
(Image.Tag('0008,0020') IN [20240214, 20241108]
(Image.Tag('0008,0020').BETWEEN(20240214, 20250214))

Similarly, time is represented in the [hour][minutes][second] format, so 10:30.24 PM is represented as 223024.  You then write your search parameters the same way as you would for numbers.

Working with patient age (AS-type)

Patient age can be returned in a variety of values.

Image.PatientAge – returns the age in years
Image.PatientAgeInDays – returns the age in years
Image.PatientAgeInWeeks – returns the age in weeks
Image.PatientAgeInMonths – returns the age in months

The returned values are number values, and you can then use the same search parameters for numbers e.g.

(Image.PatientAge = 50)
(Image.PatientAgeInDays >= 180)
(Image.PatientAgeInWeeks.BETWEEN(15, 30)
(Image.PatientAgeInMonths < 10)

Easy DICOM Search is the easiest tool you can use to search your DICOM image collection, and the most flexible in how you can work with the search results.

Download a 14-day trial of Easy DICOM Search now.  A 12-months license costs USD 45, and includes 12 months of support and updates.

See also:

Getting started with Easy DICOM Search

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Let’s get started using Easy DICOM Search to search for specific DICOM images.

Selecting the folders to search in

2 ways to do this.

1 – select the folders in the Explorer window on the left

2 – enter the folders directly into the Folders listing

Enter the file extensions

By default, Easy DICOM Search will search for files with the dcm and dicom extensions in the search folders.  You can add additional extensions if required.

Enter the search parameters

Let’s start with the basics – searching for text values.  To search for all CT images, enter this:

and press F5 or click on the Search files (F5) button.

Image.Tag(‘0008,0060’)

tells Easy DICOM Search to evaluate the modality tag value.

= ‘CT’

tells Easy DICOM Search to check if the value matches the value CT.

The expression is enclosed in brackets by convention.

To search for images of multiple modalities, you have 2 options:

1 – enter each condition on a separate line, using the OR parameter

2 – use the MATCH operator

One difference between the two is that the equality search is case-sensitive, which the MATCH operator is case-insensitive.

To search for multiple parameters, use the AND operator e.g.

In the above example, Easy DICOM Search will return all CT and MR head and lung images.

To search for partial text values, use the CONTAIN, STARTWITH and ENDWITH operators.  All 3 operators are case-insentivie.

For e.g. to search for all images where the institution name contains the word JIRA, enter the following:

You can search for multiple values by separating each value with a comma e.g.

To search for a phrase, enclose the phrase in double quotes e.g.

Easy DICOM Search will return only images containing the phrase jira hospital or osirix in the Institution Name tag.

Finding tag group and element values

Easy DICOM Search has a tags reference function to help you search for each tag’s group and element values

You can filter the tags by entering the complete or partial tag description.

When you double-click on the tag item, the Tags Assist function helps you write your search parameters.  For e.g. when we double-click on the Patient’s Weight tag, the following Tags Assist window is displayed.

Say we want to search for patients whose weight is between 60 and 70.

Clicking OK then generates the following search parameter for us.

Note that the Tags Assist function must be active for this to work.

Working with your search results

Your search results are displayed in an Explorer-like window.  The search parameter values are also displayed.

You can add additional columns to the file listing to display other DICOM tag values by clicking on the Add columns to search results button.

You can export the file list to the clipboard or to a text file, or export the displayed file details, or export all or part of the DICOM tags for all the listed files to an Excel spreadsheet.  See this topic for more details.

Persistent search history

Click on the View search history function to display details of all your previous searches.

From the Search History window, you can choose to display the search results again, or perform the search again using the same parameters if you have added new files to search in.

Easy DICOM Search is the easiest tool you can use to search your DICOM image collection, and the most flexible in how you can work with the search results.

Download a 14-day trial of Easy DICOM Search now.  A 12-months license costs USD 45, and includes 12 months of support and updates.

See also:

Easy DICOM Search released

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Need to search for your DICOM images matching specific tag values?  Like searching for CT images of the lung of male patients aged between 70 and 80?  Easy DICOM Search can help you with that.

Easy DICOM Search helps you search for images matching specific attributes using simple expressions like this:

You can search for any top-level tag value.  If the tag isn’t named, you can use the tag group and element directly e.g.

In this example, the 0008,0090 tag refers to the referring physician name.

You can also search on file attributes, in addition to DICOM tag values e.g.

Here, Easy DICOM Search will return all CT image files larger than 1 MB in size, created after January 1, 2024.

Working with your search results

Your search results are displayed in a Explorer-like window, and automatically displays the  tag values that match your search parameters.

The context menu of each DICOM file displays the same options you would see in Windows Explorer.

You can export the list of files, and even export all or part of the tag values of each file, to an Excel worksheet, complete with image thumbnails.

Persistent search results

Your search results are automatically stored and recalled when you open Easy DICOM Search.  You do not have to repeat the searches each time, unless you have new files.  In these situations, you can simply open the search history, and choose to perform the search again using the same parameters.  There is no need to write the search parameters again.

Easy DICOM Search is the easiest tool you can use to search your DICOM image collection, and the most flexible in how you can work with the search results.

Download a 14-day trial of Easy DICOM Search now.  A 12-months license costs USD 45, and includes 12 months of support and updates.

See also:

Easy DICOM Viewer – anonymizing tags with Japanese character values

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In Easy DICOM Viewer, you can anonymize the DICOM tags in a series of images.

Prior to version 5.3, you could not modify the tag values to include Japanese characters.  From version 5.3 onwards, this is now possible.

For example, say you want to modify the Image Type tag (0008,0008) value to T1強調画像 (T1 weighted image).  First, create a new tags template or use an existing template.  A list of the most commonly used tags are displayed.

To check if Image Type is on the list, you can enter the tag value in the Filter area.

No results are displayed, meaning the tag isn’t on the list.  You could also have entered a partial description, e.g. type

A tag containing type is displayed, but it isn’t the tag we want.  To add a new tag, click on the Add button.

Enter the group and element value.

The new tag is then added to the list, and you can enter the value you want to use.

Another thing to note when using Japanese text is to ensure that your Specific Character Set tag (0008,0005) contains the value ISO 2022 IR 87.  You can check this in the Tags viewer in Easy DICOM Viewer.

If the image’s character set does not have this value, the tag value would be displayed  incorrectly.

With the correct value for Specific Character Set, the tag value is displayed correctly.

If you would like us to support additional character sets, please drop us a line at support@yohz.com.

Download a 14-day trial of Easy DICOM Viewer now to easily anonymize or modify your DICOM images’ tag values.

Using date and time values in your file naming convention

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In SQL Image Viewer, Access OLE Export, and SQL Blob Export, you can use date values in the file naming convention.

In this query, we select the ID (integer), content (blob), and lastupdated (datetime) fields.

To use the date value from the lastupdated field, include it in the file naming convention value.

The file name then uses the default format of yyyymmdd to format the date value.

You can also format the date value differently using date and time specifiers.  For e.g. using <LASTUPDATE:yyyy_mm> indicates that we only want to use the year and month elements separated by an underscore character.

resulting in

You can also use the time values e.g. hhnn indicates we want to use the hour and minute values:

resulting in this:

You can use both and and time values by using the appropriate specifiers.  The thing to note is that minute specifiers use n or nn, instead of m or mm, as those are month specifiers.

A list of all date and time specifiers available here for reference.

 

Multi-user PDF search

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So you have a collection of thousands of PDF files.  You use Easy PDF Search to create a full text database that you use to search your PDF collection.  Now you want to allow other users to do the same.  What are your options?

Easy PDF Search Basic Edition allows up to 2 other users to search your PDF database, while the Standard Edition allows as many users as your machine can support.

Configuration

On the machine where the Easy PDF Search full text database database was created, in the Connect to Database window, select the Local database item and also the Database will be shared via hotspot item.

 

Starting the hotspot – Basic Edition

Click on the Start hotspot button on the toolbar.

Enter the hotspot settings you want to apply.

When you click the Start button, the hotspot will be active.  On the toolbar, there is now a Stop hotspot button.

 

Starting the hotspot – Standard Edition

Similar to the Basic Edition, click on the Start hotspot button on the toolbar to open the hotspot settings window.

You can learn more about the various hotspot settings for the Standard Edition here.

In short, you can support more users on the Standard Edition, and each user can be assigned roles that limit their access to your PDF libraries.

Connecting to a hotspot

In the Connect to Database window, select the Easy PDF Search Server item, and enter the IP address and port of the machine where the hotspot is active.

If you are connecting to a hotspot running the Basic Edition, leave the Login value empty.  If you are connecting to a Standard Edition server, you need to enter the Login value.

Click on the Connect button to connect to the hotspot-enabled database.  You can now search the PDF files in that database.

Searching PDF files using word stemmers

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Easy PDF Search by default searches for complete words/phrases in your PDF files.  For example, if we search for the word like, only files containing that exact word are returned and highlighted in the search results.

If we wanted to search for words starting with the word like, we can perform a prefix search using the * character e.g. like*

This returns all words with the prefix like.  Unrelated words (from a grammar perspective) like likelihood and likewise, will be returned, while a related noun like liking will not be returned.

Stemmed words

Stemming is the process of removing a part of a word, or reducing a word to its stem or root.  In the example above, the words like, likes, liking, liked, and likely all share the same root word i.e. like.

When we want Easy PDF Search to use stem words when searching e.g.

we need to first create a stem database, then search that stem database.

Creating a stem database

To create a stem database, click on the Options > Stemmer language > Settings item.

In the Stemmer Settings window, select up to 5 languages to create a stem database for.

You can create stem databases for the following 27 languages:

  • Armenian
  • Basque
  • Catalan
  • Danish
  • Dutch
  • English
  • Finnish
  • French
  • German
  • Greek
  • Hindi
  • Hungarian
  • Indonesian
  • Irish
  • Italian
  • Lithuanian
  • Nepali
  • Norwegian
  • Portuguese
  • Romanian
  • Russian
  • Serbian
  • Spanish
  • Swedish
  • Tamil
  • Turkish
  • Yiddish

When you want to search the stem database, select the stem language you want to search in from the Options menu.

Easy PDF Search then displays the stem language database that the search will be performed in.

In the search results, the stem database that was searched will also be displayed.

Testing the stemmers

To test which words stem to the same root word, you can use the test utility in the Stemmer Settings window.  Select the language you want to test, then click on the Test … stemmer tab.

Enter the search word, then a list of words you want to check if the root word matches the search word.

Next, click on the Test button.  Non-matches will be displayed in a strike-out manner.

Download a 14-day trial of Easy PDF Search now and experience how easy and fast it is to search your PDF files collection, now with the ability to perform stem word searches.

Using the bookmarks bar in Easy PDF Explorer

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The Bookmarks bar in Easy PDF Explorer appears below the main menu in Easy PDF Explorer.

Using the Bookmarks bar

The bookmarks lets you quickly open a folder or file by clicking on the item on the Bookmarks bar.  To place an item, drag and drop the folder or file from the Explorer window to the Bookmarks bar.

For example, this is the visual representation when you drag a folder over the Bookmarks bar.

When you drop the item on the Bookmarks bar, a button is created to represent the folder.

When you now click on that button, the active Explorer window will open to that folder.

Similarly, when you drag a file item on to the Bookmarks bar, a button is created for that file.  In the image below, we have 2 file items – a PDF file and an Excel workbook.

When you click on the file name on the Bookmarks bar, the active Explorer window will open to the folder containing that file, and highlight the file name.

Opening the context menu for items on the Bookmarks bar

You can open the context menu associated with the folder or file item by right-double-clicking on the button in the Bookmarks bar.  The image below shows the context menu when we click on our Excel file item.

Rearranging items on the Bookmarks bar

Right click on the folder or file item, then drag and drop the item on its new position.

Removing items from the Bookmarks bar

Right click on the folder or file item and drag it away from the Bookmarks bar.

 

Extracting files from a Thomson Reuters FileCabinet CS database

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We recently had a user that had to extract Word and Excel documents from a Thomson Reuters FileCabinet CS database using  SQL Blob Export.  The user was helpful enough to send us a couple of samples of the raw data stored in the table, allowing us to inspect the data in detail.

Turns out Thomson Reuters stores the files in a different manner to what SQL Blob Export expected, so we had to make some adjustments to the export process.

Beginning with version SQL Blob Export 6.1, you can now export items from your FileCabinet CS database.  The same feature is found in SQL Image Viewer.  When you run a query to return the items, it will be shown as OLE Structured Storage packages.

You can then export the files using the export wizards.

If you encounter a situation where SQL Blob Export or SQL Image Viewer is unable to export your files, please send us an email at support@yohz.com.

It would be very helpful to also attach a couple of samples of the rows that failed to be exported.  To extract the data exactly as stored in the database in SQL Blob Export, please do the following:

  • select the Extract bin files option on the Options page
  • once the export process has completed, you will find files with the .bin extension.  Please send us a couple of those files so that we may check how the data is stored in your database.

 

Filtering libraries in Easy PDF Search

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In Easy PDF Search 7.4, you can now filter the list of displayed libraries.  Say we have the following category and library structure:

To display only the PostgreSQL related libraries, we enter postgresql in the Filter libraries area.

Partial searches are also possible e.g.

To filter on multiple values, enter each word separated by a space e.g.

In the above example, Easy PDF Search will display all libraries containing the words postgresql or arduino.

If you need to filter phrases, enclose the phrase in double quotes e.g.

In this case, only libraries containing the word postgresql admin or arduino are displayed.

Download a 14-day trial of Easy PDF Search now and start searching your PDF files fast and work with the search results easily.