Referenced Content Item Identifier Attribute
| Tag | (0040,DB73) |
|---|---|
| Type | Conditionally Required (1C) |
| Keyword | ReferencedContentItemIdentifier |
| Value Multiplicity | 1-n |
| Value Representation | Unsigned Long (UL) |
An ordered set of one or more integers that uniquely identifies the Content Item that is the value for this cell.
See Section C.18.10.1.3.
Required if Selector Attribute VR (0072,0050) is not present.
Section C.18.10.1.3
C.18.10.1.3 Referenced Content Item Identifier
Instead of encoding a value for a cell or list of values for a row or column, a reference can be made to another Content Item.
For the structure and encoding of the Referenced Content Item Identifier (0040,DB73) Attribute, see Section C.17.3.2.5 and the definition of Referenced Content Item Identifier in Table C.17-6.
The reference mechanism allows the context of a cell value to be preserved. For example, if it is necessary to tabulate a list of measurements on regions of interest (ROIs), then each ROI and its associated measurements, descriptive codes, segmentation references, coordinates and image references can be encoded in the Content Tree in the normal manner, and references to the NUM Content Items that encode the measurements can be tabulated in a TABLE Content Item by using the Referenced Content Item Identifier (0040,DB73). Other cells in the table might reference other Content Items associated with the measurements, such as a tracking identifier or target anatomy or time point identifier.
Frequently, the description of the row or column (as described in Section C.18.10.1.1), will match the pre-coordinated concept name and units that describes a referenced Content Item. E.g., the same code can be used for the Concept Name Code Sequence (0040,A043) and Measurement Units Code Sequence (0040,08EA) of the referenced NUM Content Item as for the corresponding Table Row Definition Sequence (0040,A806) or Table Column Definition Sequence (0040,A807). However, it may be that a referenced Content Item has a relatively complex post-coordinated description defined by related parent, sibling or child Content Items, in which case a more specific code may need to be used for the Concept Name Code Sequence (0040,A043) in Table Row Definition Sequence (0040,A806) or Table Column Definition Sequence (0040,A807).