Private Attributes

The DICOM standard allows the use of private attributes. If DICOM objects are sent as Explicit VR, the receiver will be able to decode the private attributes. These attributes are always identified by an odd number of the first tag element. An example of a private tag is (0011, 0010).

Private attributes show up as proprietary data in the DICOM header. Using private attributes is generally not considered good practice because the receiver (assuming it is a different vendor) does not know how to decode these into meaningful attributes, especially if there is a “standard” mechanism to exchange this information. It is recommended that, as a minimum, a vendor specifies the private attributes in their conformance statement.

If there are some omissions from the DICOM standard that are not (yet) standardized, private attributes are thought to be acceptable.