DICOM Attribute

Study Date (0008,0020)

Keyword
StudyDate
VR
DA
VM
1

Definition

Date the Study started.

From NEMA PS3.3 §C.7.2.1.

Attribute Metadata

Tag
(0008,0020)
Keyword
StudyDate
Name
Study Date
Value Representation (VR)
DA
Value Multiplicity (VM)
1
Status
Active
Source
NEMA PS3.6 (table_6-1)

This attribute is part of the current DICOM Standard. Its value representation is DA with multiplicity 1.

Used in 2 Modules

This attribute uses the DA Value Representation. Multiplicity 1 governs how many values may be encoded.

Integration Notes

Real-world integration guidance for engineers implementing this attribute in Mirth Connect, FHIR gateways, HL7 v2 bridges, and cloud DICOM services. Authoritative source data where available; reference examples and operational notes where they add value.

FHIR Mapping

  • ImagingStudy.started (0008,0020)+(0008,0030)

Source: HL7 FHIR R5 ImagingStudy (CC0).

HL7 v2 Equivalent

  • OBR-7 Observation Date/Time (date portion)
    ORU

    OBR-7 is TS; DICOM StudyDate consumes the YYYYMMDD portion. The time portion goes to (0008,0030) StudyTime.

    Source: HL7 v2 standard

Verify against IHE Radiology TF Vol 2 and your facility's interface specification before production use.

Cloud DICOM Support

  • AWS HealthImaging Queryable
  • Azure DICOM Queryable
  • Google Cloud Healthcare Queryable

Study Date is a Study-level QIDO-RS matching key. Range queries (StudyDate=20250101-20250131) supported by all three. AWS HealthImaging promotes it for fast date-range searches.

Per-vendor source URLs and verification date in src/content/dicom/cloud-support.json#_meta. Status taxonomy: required (mandated on Store), queryable (QIDO-RS matching key), preserved (stored as-is), promoted (AWS top-level metadata), unsupported (stripped/rejected).

Real-World Sample Values

  • 20040119 CT_small.dcm
  • 20040826 MR_small.dcm
  • 1997.04.24 ExplVR_BigEnd.dcm

Extracted from pydicom test fixtures (MIT, de-identified).

Mirth Connect Example

Convert DICOM Study Date + Time to ISO 8601 — Useful for FHIR ImagingStudy

Useful for FHIR ImagingStudy.started or external systems expecting ISO timestamps.

// (0008,0020) Study Date YYYYMMDD + (0008,0030) Study Time HHMMSS.FFFFFF
var d = String(msg.dataset.attr.(@tag == '00080020').value).trim();
var t = String(msg.dataset.attr.(@tag == '00080030').value).trim();
if (d.length === 8) {
  var iso = d.substr(0,4) + '-' + d.substr(4,2) + '-' + d.substr(6,2);
  if (t.length >= 6) iso += 'T' + t.substr(0,2) + ':' + t.substr(2,2) + ':' + t.substr(4,2);
  channelMap.put('study_started', iso); // YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS
}

Reference only — validate before production. Snippets are starting points, not turnkey solutions. Always test against your channel's specific message structure and your facility's interface specification. See Mirth Connect User Guide + NEMA PS3.6 + your vendor conformance statement for authoritative specification.

Common Operational Errors

Operational error patterns for the most-queried tags will be added as coverage expands.

DICOM Integration Services

Saga IT builds production DICOM integrations across Mirth Connect, FHIR gateways, and cloud imaging platforms. If you're working with StudyDate or the broader (0008,0020) context: