Agfa PACS considered harmful

[neurolabusc]

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

Users should be aware that Agfa PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System) will obfuscate any DICOM images it touches. I do not believe the resulting images are archival quality, and the opportunity for unintended consequences seems high. I document the issue and provide examples here. I urge users with an Agfa PACS to contact them for a resolution. I consider this a deal breaker for any purchasing decisions.

Future versions of dcm2niix will attempt to detect if DICOMs have been tampered with by an Agfa PACS and provide the user with feedback. However, I remain undecided if dcm2niix should be modified to compensate for these defects: this would impact the performance for all users regardless of whether they purchased from Agfa, it would make the code harder to maintain, and it will not repair the broken DICOM images. Agfa is selling a professional tool, and I believe they have an obligation to support a product that keeps the data as simple and unadulterated as possible.