diff --git a/invesalius/reader/dicom.py b/invesalius/reader/dicom.py
index 91141bf..41b6081 100644
--- a/invesalius/reader/dicom.py
+++ b/invesalius/reader/dicom.py
@@ -1486,6 +1486,8 @@ class Parser():
         try:
             data = self.data_image[str(0x0008)][str(0x1030)]
             if (data):
+                if isinstance(data, unicode):
+                    return data
                 encoding = self.GetEncoding()
                 return data.decode(encoding)
         except(KeyError):
--
libgit2 0.21.2