This chapter describes how to review results of TCIA database searches.
Topics in this chapter include:
Search Results Overview
In reviewing search results, it is important to review the hierarchy of submissions in TCIA.
Collection > Patient (Subject) > Study > Series > Images |
A Simple Search, Text Search, and Advanced Search each orders search results by Subject ID on the Search Results (by Subject) page. Clicking that Subject ID displays the studies and image series matching the search criteria for that subject. For more information, see Search Results (Studies for Subject).
You can view images associated with studies for the selected subject in various ways, including:
- viewing all study images in a DICOM web viewer,
- viewing thumbnails of all study images on the 3 - Working with Images in TCIA 6.5 page
- viewing selected images in your desktop DICOM viewer,
- viewing all study images in a cine loop,
- or viewing the DICOM header of the first image in the series.
Retrieving objects for download
At any point in the process of reviewing results, you can add items - all data pertaining to a patient, study, or an image series - to your data basket. When items are in your data basket, you must take a subsequent step to download them.
When you download a series that has annotation files (indicated by Yes in the Contains Annotations column), they are automatically downloaded as well.
Search Results (Studies for Subject)
Search Results (Images for Series)
Viewing Image Animation
- On the Search Results (Studies for Subject) page, you can launch an animation of thumbnails if there is more than one image in the series. Click
in a series record in the search results.
OR - You can launch the animation of an image series from the data basket. In the View column of the data basket, click the magnifying glass symbol,
, corresponding to the series you want to view. On the View Series Images page, click the View Series in Cine Mode link.
When the viewer opens (figure above), the animation controls display below the image. When you use the controls, NBIA proceeds to display the images sequentially, like a movie.
The following table describes the action of each of the animation controls.
Animation Controls | Action |
|---|---|
| Reset start and end. |
| Drag ends of the yellow bar to vary the range of images playing. |
| Click to return to the first image in the set. |
| Click to play animation backward through the series. |
| Click to stop the animation; click again to display one image at a time, moving backward through the series. |
| Drag the arrow to set which frame of the movie displays. This also monitors the progress of the animation. |
| Click to stop the animation; click again to display one image at a time, moving forward through the series. |
| Click to play animation forward through the series. |
| Click to progress to the last image in the set. |
| Click to cycle the animation forward or backward. Once set, the animation continues. |
Tip
If the animation is very sluggish, you may want to preload the entire animation by clicking the link at the bottom of the series animation page. Also heed the note at the bottom of the page, which reads:
Warning: Especially on low-bandwidth connection, please ensure your browser is configured to cache data on SSL connections. Otherwise, the performance of the slide show can be poor. For example, to enable caching on Firefox, set browser.cache.disk_cache_ssl to true. If viewing Ultrasound Cine Loop, note that it is not playing at acquired frame rate - please download to local computer and run with separate DICOM viewer.
Obtaining DICOM Viewers
Images in the TCIA repository are stored in the medical image standard, Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM). A DICOM file stores the digital image, along with a series of tags that contain metadata about the image such as patient ID, study ID, patient weight, and anatomic site. More information about DICOM is available.
Select Tools > List DICOM Image Viewers to open a page of selected links to freeware DICOM image viewers. This list is provided for your convenience. Many other DICOM viewers are available on the internet. This is not an endorsement of the listed viewers.
Before using the viewers
The images in this in vivo image repository need to be downloaded before you can view them using the viewers.
- ImageJ (runs on Linux, Mac OS 9, Mac OS X, Windows, and the Sharp Zaurus PDA. (runs on Linux, Mac OS 9, Windows, and the Sharp Zaurus PDA)
- FusionViewer open source and multi-platform PET/CT display software package
- OSIRIX (runs on Mac OSX)
- ClearCanvas
- 3D Slicer
Downloading TCIA Images
Using the Temporary TCIA Downloader
Working with the Data Basket
As you search TCIA, you can add any data items to your Data Basket to download later. The items in your Data Basket remain there only for the current work session.
Adding Items to Your Basket
You can add the images associated with a subject, a single series, or the entire study to your data basket. You can also choose individual images to add to your data basket. When you have marked a record for addition to the data basket, it is highlighted in yellow.
- Click
to select the record and 
to clear it. - To mark all records in the search results as records you want to add to your data basket, click the basket icon in the column header or click
.
Managing the Data Basket
Downloading the Data Basket
Download Manager
Working With Shared Lists
TCIA provides a way for you to identify and label a collection of image series for you to use or share with other TCIA users.
Creating a Shared List
Editing a Shared List
Searching a Shared List
Exporting a Shared List
Managing a Shared List
Permissions
This administrative feature is available only to logged-in users who have "manage visibility" privileges, as defined in UPT.
To delete a shared list, follow these steps:
- Click Admin > Manage Shared List.
The Manage Shared List page appears.
- Select a user name from the list.
That user's shared list(s) appear.
Click the name link to review the shared list's details or click
to delete shared the shared list.
