# How does Slicer distinguish different series?

**URL:** <https://discourse.slicer.org/t/how-does-slicer-distinguish-different-series/24338>\
**Category:** Support\
**Created:** [July 16, 2022, 8:14am UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/how-does-slicer-distinguish-different-series/24338 "2022-07-16T08:14:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![kaizhao](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/kaizhao/32/15623_2.png) [@kaizhao](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/kaizhao)\
**Post date:** [July 16, 2022, 8:14am UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/how-does-slicer-distinguish-different-series/24338/1 "2022-07-16T08:14:42Z")

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I’m developing an automatic algorithm to generate 3 different parametric maps.

Specifically, I generate 3 different maps named `ktrans`, `t0` and `kep` maps. The generated maps are written into dicom files with `pydicom` package.  
I give these maps 3 different `SeriesDescription` and `SeriesNumber` fields when writing into dicom files.  
However, when loading these files into slicer, only the `ktrans` maps are loaded.

These maps can be successfully loaded with Osirix. So, is there some other fields I have to fill when writing into dicom? Which field does slicer use to identify different series?

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**Author:** ![lassoan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/lassoan/32/13_2.png) [@lassoan](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/lassoan)\
**Post date:** [July 16, 2022, 2:42pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/how-does-slicer-distinguish-different-series/24338/2 "2022-07-16T14:42:11Z")

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Do you create distinct series instance UID for each series; and distinct SOP instance UID for each file?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kaizhao](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/kaizhao/32/15623_2.png) [@kaizhao](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/kaizhao)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2022, 1:53am UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/how-does-slicer-distinguish-different-series/24338/3 "2022-08-05T01:53:53Z")

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Thank you Andras!

After giving different values for `SeriesInstanceUID`, Slicer is able to load all the series. It seems that Slicer identifies different slices according to `SeriesInstanceUID`, not `SeriesNumber` or `SeriesDescription`.