HOW TO: Load Annotations from DICOM File as LEAD Annotations

      static void LoadDICOMAnnotations(string filename)
      {
         //load the DICOM File so we can get the SOP Instance UID
         DicomDataSet _ds = new DicomDataSet();
         _ds.Load(filename, DicomDataSetLoadFlags.LoadAndClose);

         //Get the SOP Instance UID
         string imageSopInstanceUid;
         DicomElement pImageElement = _ds.FindFirstElement(null, DicomTag.SOPInstanceUID, false);
         if (null != pImageElement)
         {
            imageSopInstanceUid = _ds.GetStringValue(pImageElement, 0);

            //Once we have the SOP Instance ID, we then get the Annotations from the file
            var annotations = GetAnnotationsFromDICOMFile(imageSopInstanceUid, filename);
            //Do stuff here with the annotations such as render them
         }
      }

static List<AnnContainer> GetAnnotationsFromDICOMFile(string imageSopInstanceUid, string filename)
      {
         //Load the PRE file - for this example we're assuming that the filename is the same as the DCM file, just the extension is different
         string preFilename = Path.ChangeExtension(filename, "pre");

         //Instantiate the DicomAnnotationsUtilities and load the PRE File
         DicomAnnotationsUtilities _dicomAnnotationsUtilities = new DicomAnnotationsUtilities();
         DicomDataSet _curPsDataset = new DicomDataSet();
         _curPsDataset.Load(preFilename, DicomDataSetLoadFlags.LoadAndClose);

         //Get the Presentation State Image Refernece from the PRE file using the SOP Instance UID from the DCM file
         List<AnnContainer> annContainers = new List<AnnContainer>();
         DicomElement pImageElement = _curPsDataset.GetPresentationStateImageReference(imageSopInstanceUid);
         if (null == pImageElement)
            return annContainers;

         //Get all of the Annotations containers contained in the file and add them to a list
         DicomElement graphicAnnSqItem = _curPsDataset.FindFirstGraphicAnnSQItem();
         while (null != graphicAnnSqItem)
         {
            AnnContainer container  = _dicomAnnotationsUtilities.FromDataSetToAnnContainer(_curPsDataset, graphicAnnSqItem);
            if (container != null)
               annContainers.Add(container);

            graphicAnnSqItem = _curPsDataset.FindNextGraphicAnnSQItem(graphicAnnSqItem);
         }

         return annContainers;
      }