diff --git a/nibabel/nicom/csareader.py b/nibabel/nicom/csareader.py
index cba9e39e34..9847b72d28 100644
--- a/nibabel/nicom/csareader.py
+++ b/nibabel/nicom/csareader.py
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
     'IS': int,    # integer string
 }
 
-MAX_CSA_ITEMS = 199
+MAX_CSA_ITEMS = 1000
 
 
 class CSAError(Exception):
diff --git a/nibabel/nicom/tests/data/csa_str_1001n_items.bin b/nibabel/nicom/tests/data/csa_str_1001n_items.bin
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ce572e9d72
Binary files /dev/null and b/nibabel/nicom/tests/data/csa_str_1001n_items.bin differ
diff --git a/nibabel/nicom/tests/data/csa_str_200n_items.bin b/nibabel/nicom/tests/data/csa_str_200n_items.bin
deleted file mode 100644
index 780f196ffa..0000000000
Binary files a/nibabel/nicom/tests/data/csa_str_200n_items.bin and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/nibabel/nicom/tests/test_csareader.py b/nibabel/nicom/tests/test_csareader.py
index 63610a8e8f..d0ecfddc6f 100644
--- a/nibabel/nicom/tests/test_csareader.py
+++ b/nibabel/nicom/tests/test_csareader.py
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 CSA2_B1000 = open(pjoin(IO_DATA_PATH, 'csa2_b1000.bin'), 'rb').read()
 CSA2_0len = gzip.open(pjoin(IO_DATA_PATH, 'csa2_zero_len.bin.gz'), 'rb').read()
 CSA_STR_valid = open(pjoin(IO_DATA_PATH, 'csa_str_valid.bin'), 'rb').read()
-CSA_STR_200n_items = open(pjoin(IO_DATA_PATH, 'csa_str_200n_items.bin'), 'rb').read()
+CSA_STR_1001n_items = open(pjoin(IO_DATA_PATH, 'csa_str_1001n_items.bin'), 'rb').read()
 
 
 @dicom_test
@@ -70,15 +70,15 @@ def test_csa_len0():
 
 def test_csa_nitem():
     # testing csa.read's ability to raise an error when n_items >= 200
-    assert_raises(csa.CSAReadError, csa.read, CSA_STR_200n_items)
-    # OK when < 200
+    assert_raises(csa.CSAReadError, csa.read, CSA_STR_1001n_items)
+    # OK when < 1000
     csa_info = csa.read(CSA_STR_valid)
     assert_equal(len(csa_info['tags']), 1)
     # OK after changing module global
     n_items_thresh = csa.MAX_CSA_ITEMS
     try:
-        csa.MAX_CSA_ITEMS = 1000
-        csa_info = csa.read(CSA_STR_200n_items)
+        csa.MAX_CSA_ITEMS = 2000
+        csa_info = csa.read(CSA_STR_1001n_items)
         assert_equal(len(csa_info['tags']), 1)
     finally:
         csa.MAX_CSA_ITEMS = n_items_thresh