Parse DICOM files in native Python

Question

What is the simplest and most-pythonic way to parse a DICOM file?

A native Python implementation without the use of non-Python libraries would be much preferred. DICOM is the standard file format in digital medical imaging (look here for more information).

There are some C/C++ libraries that support reading (a subset) of DICOM files. Two or three of them even have Python bindings. A native Python parser would serve two purposes for me:

1. No need to build any of the external C/C++ libraries.
2. Learn about the DICOM file format.

Answer 1

There is newer and beter Python package for reading DICOM files out there: pydicom