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Architecture

dicomqc separates DICOM parsing from validation and reporting.

DICOM files
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        v
Backend
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        v
Normalized metadata model
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        v
Rule engine
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        v
Reports

Backend boundary​

The pydicom backend is isolated behind a small protocol:

class DicomBackend:
    def read_metadata(self, path):
        ...

Other modules operate on normalized metadata records and do not import pydicom. This keeps the project open to future backends, including a possible Rust-based reader.

Normalized model​

Each record contains file-level metadata such as manufacturer, modality, study UID, and series UID, plus normalized tag records with:

  • tag number
  • keyword
  • VR
  • private-tag flag
  • redaction-safe value state

Raw values may be used internally by rules, but reports should not expose them.