Jump to content

MeVisLab

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

MeVisLab
Developer(s)MeVis Medical Solutions AG,Fraunhofer MEVIS
Initial release1993;31 years ago(1993)
Stable release
3.5.0 / June 1, 2022;2 years ago(2022-06-01)
Operating systemCross-platform
Type
LicenseProprietary
Websitewww.mevislab.de

MeVisLabis a cross-platformapplication frameworkformedical image processingandscientific visualization.It includes advanced algorithms forimage registration,segmentation,and quantitative morphological and functional image analysis. AnIDEfor graphical programming and rapid user interface prototyping is available.

MeVisLab is written inC++and uses theQt frameworkfor graphical user interfaces. It is available cross-platform on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. The software development is done in cooperation betweenMeVis Medical Solutions AGand Fraunhofer MEVIS.

A freeware version of the MeVislab SDK is available (seeLicensing). Open source modules are delivered asMeVisLab Public Sources in the SDKand available from theMeVisLab Community and Community Sources project.

History

[edit]

MeVisLab development began in 1993 with the software ILAB1 of the CeVis Institute, written in C++. It allowed to interactively connect algorithms of the Image Vision Library (IL) onSilicon Graphics (SGI)to form image processing networks. In 1995, the newly founded MeVis Research GmbH (which becameFraunhofer MEVISin 2009) took over the ILAB development and released ILAB2 and ILAB3.OpenInventorandTclscripting was integrated but both programs were still running on SGI only.[1]

In 2000, ILAB4 was released with the core rewritten inObjective-Cfor Windows. For being able to move away from the SGI platform, the Image Vision Library was substituted by the platform-independent, inhouse-developed MeVis Image Processing Library (ML). In 2002, the code was adapted to work on the application framework Qt.[1]

In 2004, the software was released under the name MeVisLab. It contained an improved IDE and was available on Windows and Linux.[2]See theRelease historyfor details.

In 2007, MeVisLab has been acquired byMeVis Medical Solutions AG.Since then, MeVisLab has been continued as a collaborative project between the MeVis Medical Solutions and Fraunhofer MEVIS.

Features

[edit]
Body center rendered in MeVisLab

MeVisLab features include:[3][4][5]

  • Image processing with the MeVis Image Processing Library (ML):The ML is a request-driven, page-based, modular, expandable C++image processinglibrary supporting up to six image dimensions (x, y, z, color, time, user dimensions). It offers a priority-controlled page cache and high performance for large data sets.
  • 2D image viewing:Fast, modular, extensible 2D viewers with combined2D/3Drendering are implemented, supporting slab rendering (volume rendering/MIP), overlays, point/ROI selection,Multiplanar Reformations (MPR),as well as interactive editing of marker objects (points, vectors, discs, spheres, etc.)
  • Volume rendering:A high-qualityvolume renderer(Giga Voxel Renderer, GVR) based onOpenGL/Open Inventoris available.[6]It supports large image volumes (e.g., 512x512x2000CTvolumes, 12bit), time-varying data (e.g. dynamicMRIvolumes),lookup tables,interactiveregion of interest,sub-volume selection, modular, multi-purposeGLSLshaderframework.[7]
  • DICOM and other file formats:DICOMis supported via an import step that automatically recognizes series of 2D DICOM frames that belong to the same 3D/4D image volume. The data can be browsed with a configurable DICOM browser. DICOM storage toPACSis possible. Other supported file formats include TIFF (2D/3D, RGBA), Analyze, RAW, PNG, JPG, BMP, and more.
  • Tool frameworks:Modular class and module libraries for markers, curves,histograms,Winged-Edged Meshes (WEM)and Contour Segmentation Objects (CSO) are available.
  • Qt integration:Qtis used as application framework. The Qt API is integrated viaPythonQt,allow to access Qt Style Sheets, Qt Widgets, QT Core classes, etc. by scripting from within MeVisLab.
  • Scripting support:Pythoncan be used for script controlled access to a large part of the MeVisLab functionality. The script binding to Qt is implemented viaPythonQt.For image processing via Python,NumPyis available. Object-oriented Python programming in MeVisLab is possible.[8]
  • Integrated open source image processing and visualization libraries:Three open source libraries are integrated:Open Inventor,based on the original SGI source code released as open source in 2000;[9]Insight Toolkit (ITK),made available as MeVisLab modules;[10][11][12]Visualization Toolkit (VTK):made available as MeVisLab modules.[13][14]
  • Comprehensive module library:The MeVisLab module library comprises a total of 2600 modules, including 800 standard modules and 1800 ITK/VTK modules.

MeVisLab principles

[edit]
MeVisLab GUI

MeVisLab is a modular development framework. Based on modules, networks can be created and applications can be built.

To support the creation of image processing networks, MeVisLab offers anIDEthat allows data-flow modelling byvisual programming.Important IDE features are themultiple document interface (MDI),module and connection inspectors with docking ability, advanced search, scripting and debugging consoles, movie and screenshot generation and galleries, module testing and error handling support.[15]

In the visual network editor, modules can be added and combined to set up data flow and parameter synchronization. The resulting networks can be modified dynamically by scripts at runtime. Macro modules can be created to encapsulate subnetworks of modules, scripting functionality and high-level algorithms.

On top of the networks, the medical application level with viewers and UI panels can be added. Panels are written in the MeVisLab Definition Language (MDL), can be scripted with Python or JavaScript and styled using MeVisLab-internal mechanisms or Qt features.

The development of own modules written in C++ or Python is supported bywizards.

[edit]

Head rendered in MeVisLab Volume rendering Heart rendered in MeVisLab Heart rendered in MeVisLab Fiber tracking with MeVisLab

MeVisLab forum

[edit]

MeVisLab offers a very well-supported public forum in which core developers as well as users of all levels of experience share information. A free registration is necessary.

Fields of application, research projects

[edit]
Application building with MeVisLab

MeVisLab has been used in a wide range of medical and clinical applications, including surgery planning[16]for liver,[17][18][19][20]lung,[21][22]head[23][24]and neck and other body regions, analysis of dynamic, contrast enhanced breast[25][26]and Prostate MRI, quantitative analysis of neurologic[27]and cardiovascular image series,[28][29]orthopedic quantification and visualization, tumor lesion volumetry[30]and therapy monitoring,[31]enhanced visualization of mammograms, 3D breast ultrasound and tomosynthesis image data, and many other applications. MeVisLab is also used as a training and teaching tool[32][33]for image processing (both general and medical[34]) and visualization techniques.

MeVisLab is and has been used in many research projects, including:

  • VICORAVICORA Virtuelles Institut für Computerunterstützung in der klinischen Radiologie (2004–2006)
  • DOT-MOBI
  • HAMAM

Based on MeVisLab, the MedicalExplorationToolkit was developed to improve application development.[35]It is available as AddOn package for MeVisLab 1.5.2. and 1.6 on Windows.

MeVisLab can also be used to generate surface models of biomedical images and to export them inUniversal 3Dformat for embedding inPDFfiles.[36]

Licensing

[edit]

The MeVisLab SDK can be downloaded at no cost and without prior registration. The software can be used under three different license models:[37]

  • MeVisLab SDK Unregistered: This license model applies if the MeVisLab SDK is used without an additional license file. Under this license, a restricted feature set is available. The terms of use are identical to those of the Non-commercial MeVisLab SDK (see below).
  • Non-commercial MeVisLab SDK license: For strictly private use or for use at non-commercial institutions, such as universities, other academic institutions or non-profit organizations. Full feature set, requires a separate license file with costs.
  • Commercial MeVisLab SDK license: For use at commercial companies, institutions or research laboratories. Full feature set, requires a separate license file with costs.

None of the above license models permits the redistribution of the MeVisLab SDK or parts thereof, or using MeVisLab or parts thereof as part of a commercial service or product.

The Fraunhofer MEVIS Release Modules are intellectual property of Fraunhofer MEVIS and strictly for non-commercial purposes.[37]

[edit]

MeVisLab public sources

[edit]

Selected MeVisLab modules are open source under a BSD license. These sources are part of the MeVisLab SDK installer.

MeVisLab community and community sources

[edit]

In the MeVisLab Community Project, open-source modules for MeVisLab are contributed by a number of institutions. Contributors as of 2010 are:

  • Erasmus University Rotterdam, NL
  • Medical Imaging Research Center, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, BE
  • Division of Image Processing (LKEB), Leiden University Medical Center, NL
  • Computer Vision Laboratory,ETH Zurich, CH
  • Institut für Simulation und Graphik, Universität Magdeburg, DE
  • Center for Medical Image Science and Visualization (CMIV), University of Linköping, SE]
  • MeVis Medical Solutions AG
  • Fraunhofer MEVIS

The source code is released under BSD or LGPL license and managed in a central repository on SourceForge. Continuous builds are offered for various platforms.

PythonQt

[edit]

PythonQt is a Pythonscript binding for the Qt framework.It was originally written to make MeVisLab scriptable and then published as open source in 2007 underLGPL.An introduction of PythonQt was published in Qt Quarterly, which also includes a comparison toPyqt.

PythonQt sources and documentation are available from SourceForge.

Similar software projects

[edit]
  • Slicer (3DSlicer),an open source, multi-platform project for image analysis and scientific visualization; originally developed by the Surgical Planning Laboratory at the Brigham and Women's Hospital and the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
  • SCIRunis an open source, multi-platform scientificproblem solving environment(PSE) for modeling, simulation and visualization of scientific problems, developed at the Center for Integrative Biomedical Computing at theScientific Computing and Imaging Instituteat theUniversity of Utah
  • MITK,the Medical Imaging Interaction Toolkit is an open source project for developing interactive medical image processing software, developed at theDeutsche Krebsforschungszentrum, Heidelberg
  • Voreen,an open source, multi-platform volume rendering engine, maintained by the Visualization and Computer Graphics Research Group (VisCG) at theUniversity of Münster
  • DeVIDE,an open source, multi-platform software for rapid prototyping, testing and deployment of visualisation and image processing algorithms, developed by the Visualisation group at the TU Delft.
  • Amira,a commercial multi-platform software for visualization, analysis and manipulation of bio-medical data
  • Studierfenster (StudierFenster),a free, non-commercial Open Science client/server-based Medical Imaging Processing (MIP) online framework

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ab"MeVisLab History".Mevislab.de.RetrievedJanuary 21,2012.
  2. ^"MeVisLab 1.0 Release News".Mevislab.de. Archived fromthe originalon March 14, 2012.RetrievedJanuary 21,2012.
  3. ^"MeVisLab Features".Mevislab.de.RetrievedJanuary 21,2012.
  4. ^"MeVisLab Documentation".Mevislab.de.RetrievedJanuary 21,2012.
  5. ^Ritter, F.; Boskamp, T.; Homeyer, A.; Laue, H.; Schwier, M.; Link, F.; Peitgen, H. O. (December 1, 2011). "Ritter F, Boskamp T, Homeyer A, Laue H, Schwier M, Link F, Peitgen H-O. Medical Image Analysis: A Visual Approach. IEEE Pulse. 2011; 2(6):60–70".IEEE Pulse.2(6). Ieeexplore.ieee.org: 60–70.doi:10.1109/MPUL.2011.942929.PMID22147070.S2CID191815089.
  6. ^Link F, König M, Peitgen H-O; Multi-Resolution Volume Rendering with per Object Shading. In: Kobbelt L, Kuhlen T, Westermann R, eds. Vision Modelling and Visualization. Berlin, Aachen: Aka; 2006:185–191
  7. ^SoGVR Renderer Module Documentation[permanent dead link]
  8. ^"Heckel F, Schwier M, Peitgen H-O; Object-oriented application development with MeVisLab and Python; Lecture Notes in Informatics (Informatik 2009: Im Focus das Leben), 2009, 154, pp. 1338–1351"(PDF).RetrievedJanuary 21,2012.
  9. ^"Open Inventor Reference".Mevislab.de.RetrievedJanuary 21,2012.
  10. ^Rexilius J, Jomier J, Spindler W, Link F, König M, Peitgen H-O; Combining a Visual Programming and Rapid Prototyping Platform with ITK. In: Bildverarbeitung für die Medizin. Berlin: Springer, 2005: 460–464
  11. ^Rexilius, Jan; Spindler, Wolf; Jomier, Julien; Koenig, Matthias; Hahn, Horst; Link, Florian; Peitgen, Heinz-Otto (August 2005)."Rexilius J, Spindler W, Jomier J, Koenig M, Hahn H-K, Link F, Peitgen H-O; A Framework for Algorithm Evaluation and Clinical Application Prototyping using ITK. The Insight Journal 2005; ISC/NA-MIC/MICCAI Workshop on Open-Source Software".The Insight Journal.Insight-journal.org: 12.RetrievedJanuary 21,2012.
  12. ^Bitter, I.; Van Uitert, R.; Wolf, I.; Ibáñez, L.; Kuhnigk, J. M. (March 19, 2007). "Bitter I, van Uitert R, Wolf I, Ibanez L, Kuhnigk J-M; Comparison of Four Freely Available Frameworks for Image Processing and Visualization That Use ITK; IEEE Trans Visual Comput Graphics,13(3): 483–493, 2007 May/June".IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics.13(3). Ieeexplore.ieee.org: 483–93.doi:10.1109/TVCG.2007.1001.PMID17356215.S2CID16052252.
  13. ^Koenig M, Spindler W, Rexilius J, Jomier J, Link F, Peitgen H-O; Embedding VTK and ITK into a Visual Programming and Rapid Prototyping Platform. In: Proceedings of SPIE – Volume 6141 Medical Imaging 2006 Image Processing. Bellingham: SPIE, 2006: in press
  14. ^VTK Module Reference[permanent dead link]
  15. ^"MeVisLab Reference Manual".Mevislab.de. September 3, 2011.RetrievedJanuary 21,2012.
  16. ^http://isgwww.cs.uni-magdeburg.de/visualisierung/wiki/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=files:animation_exploration:muehler_2010_eurovis.pdf[bare URL PDF]
  17. ^"Rieder C, Schwier M, Weihusen A, Zidowitz S, Peitgen, H-O; Visualization of Risk Structures for Interactive Planning of Image Guided Radiofrequency Ablation of Liver Tumors; SPIE Medical Imaging: Visualization, Image-Guided Procedures, and Modeling, Orlando, 2009"(PDF).RetrievedJanuary 21,2012.
  18. ^Zidowitz, S.; Hansen, C.; Schlichting, S.; Kleemann, M.; Peitgen, H. -O. (2009). "Software Assistance for Intra-Operative Guidance in Liver Surgery".IFMBE Proceedings.25/6.Springerlink.com: 205–208.doi:10.1007/978-3-642-03906-5_56.ISBN978-3-642-03905-8.
  19. ^"Hansen C, Lindow B, Zidowitz S, Schenk A, Peitgen H-O; Towards Automatic Generation of Resection Surfaces for Liver Surgery Planning; Proceedings of Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery (CARS) 2010, 5 (Suppl. 1), pp. 119–120"(PDF).RetrievedJanuary 21,2012.
  20. ^"Liver projects at Fraunhofer MEVIS".Mevis.de. Archived fromthe originalon March 14, 2012.RetrievedJanuary 21,2012.
  21. ^"Dicken V, Kuhnigk J-M, Bornemann L, Zidowitz S, Krass S, Peitgen H-O; Novel CT data analysis and visualization techniques for risk assessment and planning of thoracic surgery in oncology patients; in H.U. Lemke, K. Inamura, K. Doi, M.W. Vannier, and A.G. Farman, editors, Proc CARS: Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery, volume 1281 of Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery".International Congress Series.1281:783–787. June 22, 2005.doi:10.1016/j.ics.2005.03.203.
  22. ^"Lung projects at Fraunhofer MEVIS".Mevis.de. Archived fromthe originalon March 14, 2012.RetrievedJanuary 21,2012.
  23. ^"Rieder C, Görge H-H, Ritter F, Hahn H-K, Peitgen H-O; Efficient Visualization of Risk Structures along Virtual Access Paths for Neurosurgical Planning; 59th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Neurosurgery (DGNC), Würzburg, 2008"(PDF).RetrievedJanuary 21,2012.
  24. ^"Neuro projects at Fraunhofer MEVIS".Mevis.de. Archived fromthe originalon March 14, 2012.RetrievedJanuary 21,2012.
  25. ^"Breast projects at Fraunhofer MEVIS".Mevis.de. Archived fromthe originalon March 14, 2012.RetrievedJanuary 21,2012.
  26. ^Hahn H-K, Harz M-T, Seyffarth H, Zöhrer F, Böhler T, Filippatos K, Wang L, Homeyer A, Ritter F, Laue H, Günther M, Twellmann T, Tabár L, Bick U, Schilling K; Concepts for Efficient and Reliable Multi-Modal Breast Image Reading; International Workshop on Digital Mammography (IWDM 2010, June 16–18, Girona, Spain), pp.
  27. ^"Visual computing for medical diagnosis and treatment"(PDF).RetrievedJanuary 21,2012.
  28. ^"Standardized evaluation methodology and reference database for evaluating coronary artery centerline extraction algorithms"(PDF).RetrievedJanuary 21,2012.
  29. ^"Cardio projects at Fraunhofer MEVIS".Mevis.de.RetrievedJanuary 21,2012.
  30. ^Bolte, H; Jahnke, T; Schäfer, FK; Wenke, R; Hoffmann, B; Freitag-Wolf, S; Dicken, V; Kuhnigk, JM; Lohmann, J; Voss, S; Knöss, N; Heller, M; Biederer, J (2007). "Interobserver-variability of lung nodule volumetry considering different segmentation algorithms and observer training levels".Eur J Radiol.64(2): 285–95.doi:10.1016/j.ejrad.2007.02.031.PMID17433595.
  31. ^"Rieder C, Weihusen A, Schumann C, Zidowitz S, Peitgen H-O; Visual Support for Interactive Post-Interventional Assessment of Radiofrequency Ablation Therapy; Computer Graphics Forum (Special Issue on Eurographics Symposium on Visualization) 29, 3 (1093–1102), 2010"(PDF).RetrievedJanuary 21,2012.
  32. ^"Klein J, Bartz D, Friman O, Hadwiger M, Preim B, Ritter F, Vilanova A, Zachmann G; Advanced Algorithms in Medical Computer Graphics; Eurographics 2008, Crete, April 14–18. State-of-the-Art Report (EG-STAR'08)"(PDF).RetrievedJanuary 21,2012.
  33. ^Felix Ritter."Ritter F; Visual Programming for Prototyping of Medical Applications; IEEE Visualization 2007, Sacramento, October 28 – November 1. Tutorial:" Introduction to Visual Medicine: Techniques, Applications and Software "by Dirk Bartz, Klaus Mueller, Felix Ritter, Bernhard Preim, and Karel Zuiderveld".Mevis-research.de.RetrievedJanuary 21,2012.
  34. ^Bornemann L, Dicken V, Kuhnigk J-M, Beyer F, Shin H, Bauknecht C, Diehl V, Fabel-Schulte M, Meier S, Kress O, Krass S, Peitgen H-O; Software Assistance for Quantitative Therapy Monitoring in Oncology; Proc Workshop on Medical Image Processing: Challenges in Clinical Oncology: 40–46, 2006 ]
  35. ^"Mühler K, Tietjen C, Ritter F, Preim B; The Medical Exploration Toolkit: An Efficient Support for Visual Computing in Surgical Planning and Training; IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (133–146), Los Alamitos, CA, USA, 2010"(PDF).RetrievedJanuary 21,2012.
  36. ^Newe, A; Ganslandt, T (2013)."Simplified Generation of Biomedical 3D Surface Model Data for Embedding into 3D Portable Document Format (PDF) Files for Publication and Education".PLOS ONE.8(11): e79004.Bibcode:2013PLoSO...879004N.doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0079004.PMC3829830.PMID24260144.
  37. ^ab"MeVisLab Versions and Licensing".Mevislab.de.RetrievedJanuary 21,2012.

Further reading

[edit]
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=MeVisLab&oldid=1176807409"