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Tutorials (ASL-BIDS)

ExploreASL & ASL-BIDS

Starting with version v1.6.0, ExploreASL will support an import workflow which allows the user to convert DICOM and NIFTI data to the ASL-BIDS format. Since ExploreASL does not fully utilize the BIDS format internally, there will also be an automated workflow to convert from ASL-BIDS to the ExploreASL legacy format. In the following subsections we will explain how you can use the automated ExploreASL import workflow to convert your data structure to ASL-BIDS and how you can process it.

The ExploreASL_Master script will have the following format:

[x] = ExploreASL([DataParPath, ImportModules, ProcessModules, bPause, iWorker, nWorkers])

Parameter descriptions:

  • DataParPath: Path to data parameter file (OPTIONAL)

    DataParPath
    Type CHAR ARRAY
    Default Prompting user input

  • ImportModules: Multi-step import workflow (OPTIONAL)

    • DCM2NII: Run the DICOM to NIFTI conversion
    • NII2BIDS: Run the NIFTI to BIDS conversion
    • ANONYMIZE: Run the defacing and full anonymization
    • BIDS2LEGACY: Run the BIDS to LEGACY conversion
    ImportModules DCM2NII NII2BIDS ANONYMIZE BIDS2LEGACY
    Type BOOLEAN BOOLEAN BOOLEAN BOOLEAN
    Default false false false false

  • ProcessModules: Multi-step processing pipeline (OPTIONAL)

    • STRUCTURAL: Run the Structural Module
    • ASL: Run the ASL Module
    • POPULATION: Run the Population Module
    ProcessModules STRUCTURAL ASL POPULATION
    Type BOOLEAN BOOLEAN BOOLEAN
    Default false false false

  • bPause: Pause workflow before ExploreASL pipeline (OPTIONAL)

    bPause
    Type BOOLEAN
    Default false

  • iWorker: Allows parallelization when called externally (OPTIONAL)

    iWorker
    Type INTEGER
    Default 1

  • nWorkers: Allows parallelization when called externally (OPTIONAL)

    nWorkers
    Type INTEGER
    Default 1

In the following examples, we want to show how you can use the revised import workflow and how the conventional processing is done now.

DICOM source data

Converting DICOM source data according to the ASL BIDS standard can be done using the new import workflow. For the upcoming release v1.6.0 we're preparing an exemplary DICOM source dataset based on the ASL DRO. To run this workflow, you have to use the path to your sourceStructure.json file instead of the path to your DataPar.json file for the DataParPath input argument. Do not forget to set up the source dataset correctly. You'll be required to define a studyPar.json file as well. We're working on a flavor library, to enable the import and processing of a wide variety of different sequence, vendor, and scanner combinations.

The first step to convert your DICOM source data to NIFTI source data is to run the following command:

[x] = ExploreASL('sourceStructure.json', [1 0 0 0], 0, 0, 1, 1);

Here we tell ExploreASL to run the DCM2NII import module by setting the first boolean variable of the ImportModules to 1.

NIFTI source data

Let's assume we have NIFTI source data according to the ASL BIDS standard now. To convert this ASL BIDS source data to ASL BIDS raw data, we have to run the second part of the import workflow. To run the second step, we set the second variable of the ImportModules to 1. Similar to the previous step, we pass the path to the sourceStructure.json file to ExploreASL.

[x] = ExploreASL('sourceStructure.json', [0 1 0 0], 0, 0, 1, 1);

Data anonymization

There's also a new option to anonymize your data. To do this, you can run the third step of the import workflow. This is done by setting the third variable of the ImportModules to 1. Similar to the previous steps, we pass the path to the sourceStructure.json file to ExploreASL.

[x] = ExploreASL('sourceStructure.json', [0 0 1 0], 0, 0, 1, 1);

Data in ExploreASL legacy format

Right now, ExploreASL still uses the conventional data structure. To convert our ASL BIDS rawdata to the ExploreASL legacy format, we run the last step of the import workflow. This is done by setting the fourth variable of the ImportModules to 1. Similar to the previous steps, we pass the path to the sourceStructure.json file to ExploreASL.

[x] = ExploreASL('sourceStructure.json', [0 0 0 1], 0, 0, 1, 1);

The import workflow will also generate a DataPar.json file. To adapt your pipeline, you can still use the same settings as before, by changing the JSON fields.

ExploreASL processing pipeline

If you just want to use the conventional ExploreASL processing pipeline, you can simply turn off the import workflow by setting all ImportModules variables to 0 individually or by using a single 0 for the ImportModules. This results in the following notation:

[x] = ExploreASL('sourceStructure.json', 0, 1, 0, 1, 1);

To run individual modules, you can set the ProcessModules individually. If you only want to the Structural Module for example, you can use a [1 0 0] vector. To run all modules, you can use a single 1 or a vector of ones, which should look like this [1 1 1]. Running the full processing pipeline can therefore be done like this as well:

[x] = ExploreASL('sourceStructure.json', 0, [1 1 1], 0, 1, 1);

Full pipeline

Running the full pipeline including both import workflow and processing pipeline, can be done by setting both ImportModules and ProcessModules to 1.

[x] = ExploreASL('sourceStructure.json', 1, 1, 0, 1, 1);

Other tips and tricks

Note that we changed both name and behavior of the SkipPause variable. The variable is called bPause now. Setting it to true or 1, will result in the pipeline being paused before the processing. We removed the iModules, but the functionality of ProcessModules is basically the same. We use boolean notation now, so instead of [1 2 3] you have to use [1 1 1] now.

The overall import functionality is a work in progress right now. We expect stable behavior in release v1.6.0 though. If you plan on using the develop branch until then, you have to live with more or less unstable import behavior.

The examples shown below are related to versions v1.5.1 and older. They will be updated soon. If you want to work with the current develop version, these examples obviously do not apply anymore.