The recommended method of preparing CT and MR multiplanar reconstructions (MPR) for Plaque Simulator is to use the OsiriX program to create the images and export them as .jpg files. You should create a folder for each new patient and organize all of the support files for the patient in their folder. If you follow the PS6 naming conventions for image files (i.e. files with extensions .jpg, .png, .tif and so on), you can load all of your images with a single click and file navigation procedure.
The PS6 naming conventions for image files are:
For example, if the name of the patient is Mr. Posterior Tutorial, create a folder named "Posterior Tutorial" and put all of the images associated with that patient into his folder. If you have additional image files that include any of the reserved substrings put them in a folder whose name is enclosed in (), otherwise they will interfere with the multiple file loading process. Up to 3 miscellaneous pictures (e.g. additional retinal sketches, photos, ultrasound or MPR views) can be added to the treatment plan. These are provided for documentation purposes only, misc pictures can not be calibrated or used in any quantitative way in the plan. They may, however, be printed on page 4 of the treatment plan via document preference settings.
NOTE: Image widths and heights should be at least a few hundred pixels, but not greater than about 1000 pixels. As image dimensions increase, memory usage during planning increases, image processing slows, and the resulting file sizes for .iplan and printing to .pdf increase. File sizes greater than about 10MB complicate electronic transfer. If you intend to email .pdf files to colleagues for review, you may need to apply image resolution filters to your .pdf files before emailing.
To streamline the exporting of MPR images from OsiriX to Plaque Simulator you can use a text replacement utility such as Typinator to automate the file naming conventions.
For example, in Typinator, first create a new text replacement abbreviation set named for OsiriX MD. Add abbreviations to this set for each of the standard file names. In this example the abbreviation "\tm" will be expanded to "t-meridian.jpg", "\tc" to "t-coronal.jpg", "\eq" to "equator.jpg" and so on.
Click the application button (found just below the Set list) to open Typinator's application assignment sheet. Add the OsiriX MD application to the Applications list on the left and select it. In the Sets list on the right, enable only the for OsiriX MD abbreviation set that you created previously for the OsiriX application.
In Typinator's preferences, you may wish to enable Automatically start Typinator at login and disable Open window when Typinator starts.
When exporting a .jpg image from OsiriX MD, you will initially be presented with a file Save window that looks something like this. Eye Physics recommends creating a folder on the same secure drive on which you store patient plans named OsiriX MPR in which to save all exported images. OsiriX will remember the last folder to which you exported an image so you usually only need to select an export destination the first time you export an image and it will thereafter become the default destination. You can later simply drag the image files as a group from the OsiriX MPR folder to the appropriate patient folder
Initially, the Save file window in OsiriX will default the file name to something like "Curved MPR Image.jpg". The entire text field will, at least initially, be automatically selected. While the text field is fully selected, simply type the characters "\tm".
Typinator will expand the abbreviation "\tm" in the text field to "t-meridian.jpg". Now all you need do is click the Save button to save the file in the OsiriX MPR folder and exit the window.
In the Image window:
To open a single image, first select an image buffer by clicking the button for that image. For example, to open the axial MPR, click the button labeled Axial. PS will display the current axial image in the Image window if one already exists. To open a new axial image, control-click (or right mouse button click) the Axial button and select Load Axial... from the contextual menu. This will open the OSX file navigation window from which you can navigate to, select and open the axial file. You may optionally simply drag and drop the axial file into the Image window. Note: when opening a single image, the file's name is ignored.
To simultaneously open up to 9 images using the PS6 naming conventions described above, option-click the Axial button or select Load All... from the contextual menu. PS will open a file navigation window and prompt you to open an image. Navigate to the MPR image's folder (e.g. a folder named for the patient) and open any image in the folder. PS will search that folder and open all images that adhere to the image file naming conventions. You may also simultaneously drag and drop multiple images into the Image window. If the drag and drop consists of more than one image file, PS will load the images according to the file naming conventions.