B MINC File Format

MINC files are medical imaging specific NetCDF files. NetCDF is a package available from the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research by anonymous ftp (uinidata.ucar.edu) that provides a self-describing and machine independent format for multi-dimensional data. MINC provides a standard for medical imaging data collected from different vendors as well as a library of routines and general-purpose applications for easy manipulation of the data [Nee93].

Starcam (GE Medical Systems) format brain volume data from the Royal Victoria Hospital's (RVH) SPECT system were transferred by modem to a PC linked by ethernet to the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) using MLINK (GE Medical Systems). The volumes were then transferred to a Unix platform in the MNI by ethernet where they were corrected for byte swapping. The inclusion of the header data from the Starcam system in the standardised MINC file format was facilitated by a program written in C. The proper viewing convention of the SPECT volumes from the RVH was assured with an asymmetric phantom where the orientations were easily distinguishable on the images as displayed at the MNI. It was found that the Starcam data was generally stored in a left-handed convention [Ant87] (refer to the appendix: Neurological Viewing convention) and the header data was appropriately corrected.

The MR volumes were transferred from the Phillips Vax system to the Unix display and analysis hardware within the MNI by ethernet. The MR data was also standardised to the MINC file format with all the necessary ancillary header data for use with interactive registration packages developed in-house at the MNI which expressly specify MINC format input files.