Turbo-BrainVoyager v4.4

Settings for Siemens MOSAIC Data

Since software release VB15A, Siemens supports the real-time export of Dicom mosaic images (one file per functional volume). The recommended way by Siemens to turn this functionality on is to use the IDEA command tool after switching toadvanced user mode on the console computer (see documentation by Siemens). Unfortunately there seems to be a problem since the IDEA command tool does not save the specified settings properly to disk. As an alternative solution, the respective "config" file "C:\MedCom\config\Ice\IceConfig.evp" may be changed manually, or better, by using the "XBuilder" program that can be started using the Windows "Run" tool. In XBuilder, change the three export parameters "OnlineTargetPort" (to "-1"), "OnlineTargetHostName" (to name or IP of PC in network receiving data) and "OnlineTargetPath" (to the name of the folder of the PC in the network, e.g. "D:\rtfmri"). Note that the config file is overwritten each time a new patient is registered, i.e. the settings have to be repeated each time you want to use the real-time export for a new subject.

In order to prepare the TBV Settings file to handle the exported Siemens data, you must change the settings in the Data Format tab of theTBV Settings dialog. The DataType box must contain the "SIEMENS_DICOM_MOSAIC" selection (see screenshot above). Despite colored in red, TBV will read most values in that field from the DICOM header of the first (or second) file. To ensure proper functioning it is however advised to check and eventually adjust the values. Most importantly, the series number must be changed by setting the DicomExpectedSeriesNr field for each run to match to corresponding file names exported by the scanner (see blue circele and number in expected file names highlighted above).

You may adjust the name of the (expected) first mosaic file of a run in the FirstFileName field, which is similar to "001_000003_000001.dcm" shown in the example above. The first part "001" is constant throughout all measurements of a subject including the anatomical "scout" measurements (it is only changed if the same subject is registered in a future session). The second number is the "series" (or "scan") number. The expected functional data analyzed with the current TBV file is series "3" ("000003") and the value "3" must also be set in the DicomExpectedSerieseNr field. The third number is usually "1" ("000001") and that number should be set in the DicomFirstVolumeNr field (default). This number will change from volume to volume, e.g. "001_000004_000001.dcm", "001_000004_000002.dcm", "001_000004_000003.dcm" and so on. In order that TBV separates the different numbers correctly from the first file name, the DicomNameDelimiter must be set to the underscore ("_") symbol (default). Note that one usually needs to change only the DicomExpectedSerieseNr (scan) number for the next expected run ("3" in the example case) since the other entries should normally not change and are set to correct values as default. If one would, for example, run another functional run, one should change "3" into "4" in the DicomExpectedSerieseNr field (and in the "FirstFileName" field, but this is not strictly necessary).