Two studies same patient/date merge

Merge two studies of the same patient and date into one.

Problem

Two DICOM studies from the same patient (same Patient ID) with close acquisition dates need to be merged into a single study for simplified archive management, or you need to verify they’re correctly grouped under the same patient in the Files tree. Studies from the same patient should naturally group together when Patient ID values match.

Steps

1. Open the files (⌘O) — load both studies (e.g. test.dcm and sr-test.dcm). If they share the same Patient ID, they group under separate study headers in the Files tree.

2. Verify grouping — switch to the Files tab. Two study headers should be visible if the studies have different Study Instance UIDs.

3. Merge the studies — use the Merge dropdown in the first study header and select the second study. Both series now appear under a single study header.

4. Verify the merge — one study header remains with all series rows grouped under it.

5. Drag-and-drop alternative — instead of the Merge dropdown, you can drag a series row from one study header and drop it onto another. Both methods produce the same result.

Result

Before the merge the Files tree shows two study headers; after merging (via the dropdown or drag-and-drop) there is one, with the survivor keeping its Study Instance UID. Only the study-level grouping changes — every instance keeps its SOP Instance UID.