Replace AttributeError with NAN in python

Question

I am using the following code in python to read the series description from the dicom header.

ds = dicom.read_file(mydcmfile.dcm)
a=ds.SeriesDescription

However, I get the following error because this part is blank in the dicom header for this specific image:

AttributeError: Dataset does not have attribute 'SeriesDescription'.

How can I prevent this error message and replace it with NAN?

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 10 '18 at 15:31

2

Catch the exception and then treat it:

try:
    a = ds.SeriesDescription
except AttributeError:
   pass or something else

answered Apr 10 '18 at 15:31

Jean Rostan

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 10 '18 at 17:50

This is generally a good way to check for an attribute that might be missing:

if 'SeriesDescription' in ds:
   ds.SeriesDescription = None  # or whatever you would like

You can also do:

a = ds.get('SeriesDescription')

which will return None if that item does not exist, or

a = ds.get('SeriesDescription', "N/A")

if you want to set your own value if the attribute does not exist.

2 Answers2