# An X-Ray DICOM file that Slicer won't open

**URL:** <https://discourse.slicer.org/t/an-x-ray-dicom-file-that-slicer-wont-open/42514>\
**Category:** Support\
**Created:** [April 10, 2025, 8:34am UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/an-x-ray-dicom-file-that-slicer-wont-open/42514 "2025-04-10T08:34:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![shai-ikko](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/shai-ikko/32/15765_2.png) [@shai-ikko](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/shai-ikko)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2025, 8:34am UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/an-x-ray-dicom-file-that-slicer-wont-open/42514/1 "2025-04-10T08:34:15Z")

</div>

Hello,

I have a series of X-Ray files which Slicer refuses to open. I can open them in other DICOM viewers, and I can do some processing in tools like `pydicom` or the `dcm*` and `gdcm*` CLI suites.

This seems a lot like [Seeking Help: "Could not load as a Scalar Volume" Error Opening DICOM X-ray Files (Bone, ML, and AP Views) with 3D Slicer](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/seeking-help-could-not-load-as-a-scalar-volume-error-opening-dicom-x-ray-files-bone-ml-and-ap-views-with-3d-slicer/33443) but there is no resolution in that discussion.

The files are loaded successfully into the DICOM database, but fail to load as volumes.

I first get `Image spacing may need to be calibrated for accurate size measurements.` warnings, and then `Could not load: 2: XA SCOPY [2] as a Image sequence` for all files except the first, and `Could not load: 1: XA SCOPY - 16 frames Volume Sequence by AcquisitionTime as a MultiVolume` for the first. The log includes a series of

```auto
[Python] Could not read scalar volume using GDCM approach. Error is: FileFormatError
[VTK] vtkITKArchetypeImageSeriesReader::ExecuteInformation: Cannot open /tmp/Pig X ray March 17 2025/run_1.dcm. ITK exception info: error in unknown: Could not create IO object for reading file /tmp/Pig X ray March 17 2025/run_1.dcm
[VTK] Tried to create one of the following:
[VTK] BMPImageIO
[VTK] BioRadImageIO
[VTK] DCMTKImageIO
[VTK] GDCMImageIO
[VTK] GiplImageIO
[VTK] JPEGImageIO
[VTK] LSMImageIO
[VTK] MGHImageIO
[VTK] MINCImageIO
[VTK] MRCImageIO
[VTK] MetaImageIO
[VTK] NiftiImageIO
[VTK] NrrdImageIO
[VTK] PNGImageIO
[VTK] ScancoImageIO
[VTK] StimulateImageIO
[VTK] TIFFImageIO
[VTK] VTKImageIO
[VTK] MRMLIDImageIO
[VTK] Bruker2dseqImageIO
[VTK] GE4ImageIO
[VTK] GE5ImageIO
[VTK] HDF5ImageIO
[VTK] JPEG2000ImageIO
[VTK] You probably failed to set a file suffix, or
[VTK] set the suffix to an unsupported type.
[VTK] Algorithm vtkITKArchetypeImageSeriesScalarReader (0x7415440) returned failure for request: vtkInformation (0xa83f7c0)
[VTK] Debug: Off
[VTK] Modified Time: 223493
[VTK] Reference Count: 1
[VTK] Registered Events: (none)
[VTK] Request: REQUEST_INFORMATION
[VTK] ALGORITHM_AFTER_FORWARD: 1
[VTK] FORWARD_DIRECTION: 0

```

There are also a few instances of

```auto
DICOM plugin failed to load '16: XA SCOPY [16]' as a 'Image sequence'.
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File ".../Slicer-5.6.2-linux-amd64/lib/Slicer-5.6/qt-scripted-modules/DICOMLib/DICOMUtils.py", line 812, in loadLoadables
    loadSuccess = plugin.load(loadable)
  File ".../Slicer-5.6.2-linux-amd64/bin/../lib/Slicer-5.6/qt-scripted-modules/DICOMImageSequencePlugin.py", line 357, in load
    imageData, ijkToRas = self.loadImageData(filePath, loadable.grayscale, tempFrameVolume)
  File ".../Slicer-5.6.2-linux-amd64/bin/../lib/Slicer-5.6/qt-scripted-modules/DICOMImageSequencePlugin.py", line 235, in loadImageData
    f"Could not read image {loadable.name} from file {filePath}. Error is: {errorString}")
NameError: name 'loadable' is not defined

```

(this seems to be a bug in the error-handling code, and I haven’t checked if it is fixed in later releases)

Since, as I said, several tools can read and process these files, I tried to manipulate them a little (in particular, add PixelSpacing, remove the Cyrillic encoding since all the texts are in ASCII anyway, using pydicom; change the image representation to JPEG using `gdcmconv`). This changed nothing.

I want to attach the first of these files (no need for anonymization, the image is of a pig), but the forum seems to only allow conventional image files.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![shai-ikko](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/shai-ikko/32/15765_2.png) [@shai-ikko](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/shai-ikko)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2025, 1:27pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/an-x-ray-dicom-file-that-slicer-wont-open/42514/2 "2025-04-10T13:27:22Z")

</div>

Well. You can get the file from [run\_1.dcm - Google Drive](https://drive.google.com/file/d/10Vnxs1VqPYiuQ5xPLVN_zKD4Ne4E4IQx/view?usp=sharing)

Please let me know if there’s any more data I can provide.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![muratmaga](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/muratmaga/32/3622_2.png) [@muratmaga](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/muratmaga)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2025, 3:00pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/an-x-ray-dicom-file-that-slicer-wont-open/42514/3 "2025-04-10T15:00:53Z")

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It generates a lot of errors and warnings, but it seems to load for me with 5.8.1. I just dragged into Slicer, go through the DICOM module warnings, and then hit examine and load.

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/slicer/original/3X/a/d/add472bb64c474b3f06f493ee17526474d3fa6f6.jpeg)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![shai-ikko](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/shai-ikko/32/15765_2.png) [@shai-ikko](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/shai-ikko)\
**Post date:** [April 14, 2025, 8:56am UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/an-x-ray-dicom-file-that-slicer-wont-open/42514/4 "2025-04-14T08:56:24Z")

</div>

Indeed. I was on 5.6.2, and 5.8.1 does manage.

Thanks!