DICOM Attribute

Patient's Age (0010,1010)

Keyword
PatientAge
VR
AS
VM
1

Definition

Age of the Patient.

From NEMA PS3.3 §C.7.2.2.

Attribute Metadata

Tag
(0010,1010)
Keyword
PatientAge
Name
Patient's Age
Value Representation (VR)
AS
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 AS with multiplicity 1.

Used in 1 Module

This attribute uses the AS 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

No direct FHIR ImagingStudy mapping published for this attribute. Some tags map indirectly via the Patient, Endpoint, or ImagingSelection resources — Phase 2b will expand coverage to those.

HL7 v2 Equivalent

  • PID (calculated) Patient Age (derived)
    ADTORMORU

    HL7 v2 has no direct Patient Age field — receivers calculate from PID-7 (Date of Birth) and the message's reference date. DICOM PatientAge is AS (e.g., '045Y'); the modality computes it.

    Source: common convention

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

Cloud DICOM Support

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

Patient Age (e.g. '045Y') — preserved by all three. Computed by the modality at acquisition time.

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

  • 000Y CT_small.dcm
  • 042Y waveform_ecg.dcm

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

Mirth Connect Example

Convert DICOM Patient Age (AS) to numeric years for FHIR — DICOM AS encodes age + unit (e

DICOM AS encodes age + unit (e.g., '045Y', '009M', '012W', '003D'). FHIR Patient.birthDate is a date — but for derived FHIR.Observation patient-age, we need a numeric.

// (0010,1010) Patient Age — AS format: nnnY/M/W/D
var ageStr = String(msg.dataset.attr.(@tag == '00101010').value).trim();
var match = ageStr.match(/^(\d{3})([YMWD])$/);
if (match) {
  var n = parseInt(match[1], 10);
  var unit = match[2];
  var years = unit === 'Y' ? n
            : unit === 'M' ? n / 12
            : unit === 'W' ? n / 52.143
            : n / 365.25; // D
  channelMap.put('patient_age_years', years.toFixed(2));
}

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

  • medium Patient Age (AS) computed from wrong reference date

    Diagnosis: Modality computes PatientAge at acquisition time using wall-clock, but the patient's recorded BirthDate has a year typo (e.g., 1099 instead of 1999). PatientAge appears as '925Y' which downstream age-based protocols then reject or treat as adult.

    Fix: Validate computed age plausibility on perimeter: 0 ≤ years ≤ 120. On out-of-range, recompute from PatientBirthDate (0010,0030); if BirthDate is also implausible, flag for biomed/EHR review.

Reference only — validate before applying a fix. Scenarios are drawn from common DICOM/HL7 v2 integration patterns; reproduce against your environment before acting on any diagnosis. See NEMA PS3.6 + your vendor conformance statement for authoritative specification. Severity levels: high (data-loss / patient-safety), medium (workflow disruption), low (cosmetic).

DICOM Integration Services

Saga IT builds production DICOM integrations across Mirth Connect, FHIR gateways, and cloud imaging platforms. If you're working with PatientAge or the broader (0010,1010) context: