[The DICOM-CD-Project of the German Radiology Association--an overview of the content and results of a pilot study in 2006].

DICOM-CDs are frequently used for medical image data transfer. Many different potential advantages are known, such as improved image quality, handling simplification, and cost optimization. However, there are numerous restrictions in the daily routine. While testing DICOM-CDs at the 2006 German Radiology Congress, we found that more than 70 % of CDs have discrepancies with respect to data structure or content. The German Radiological Association and OFFIS started an initiative to improve the quality of DICOM-CDs. There are three main objectives: To provide requirements for vendors of CD-writing systems, to establish user guidelines for the handling of DICOM-CDs, and to develop a test procedure for DICOM-CDs. Radiologists using such systems should be aware of these developments and use them for RFP's.