This guide explains how to use the features on the Data Admin tab of the TCIA Radiology Portal. Curators use the Perform Quality Control feature to work with images that are not yet available to the public.

What's New in the Data Administration Tool (September 2020)

• In the Data Administration module, you can now add or edit a collection license.

• In the Data Administration module, you can now clear formatting in the collection description.

Perform Quality Control

TCIA role required to use this feature: NCIA.MANAGE_VISIBILITY_STATUS

For more information about roles, see Creating a New NBIA User.

When an image is uploaded to TCIA, it is not made public immediately. A curator takes it through a quality control process to ensure that no private patient data is available, the image is of good quality, and so forth. Using the Perform Quality Control tool as a curator, you can define search criteria to locate image series for you to evaluate. You can then evaluate the submission and assign the QC (quality control) status to an image or image series.

Search for the Series to QC

1. Click Data Admin > Perform Quality Control. 

2. Select filters to narrow down the available image series to find the one you want to perform QC on. Ways to do this follow.

   • Filter on the QC status of the submitted object.

     QC Status	Description
     Not Visible	No images in the series are visible.
     Not Yet Reviewed	This status (selected by default) is automatically assigned to an image upon submission to the TCIA database.
     First Review to Seventh	A configurable user-defined stage in the workflow of an image series.
     To Be Deleted	Selected image series are to be deleted from the system.
     Visible	All images in the series are visible.
     Downloadable	All images in the series are downloadable. You can apply this status to a series to test the visibility of images in it. You can also use it to separate test cases from released cases.

   • Filter by other criteria.

     Criteria	Description
     Collection	You can only search on one collection (site) at a time.
     Released	Limit your search to image series that have either been released or not. Click Ignore not to consider Released status at all in your search.
     Batch Number	In the Batch Number box, enter the batch number of the images/series you want to find.
     Confirmed as Complete	Select Yes to search for a set of images/series that has been confirmed as complete, No to search for a set of images/series that is ongoing, or No Change to not consider this field when searching.
     Subject ID	Separate multiple Subject IDs with commas and then select  to perform the search.
     Most Recent Submission	In the From and To boxes, enter the most recent series submission date range by selecting a date in the calendar or by using the format mm/dd/yyyy.

     
     TCIA searches for image series that match the criteria you define. The page refreshes to show those series. You may have to scroll both horizontally and vertically to view all series information and options.

     Expand the table to see more rows. To do so, scroll horizontally until you see the two diagonal lines in the lower-right corner. Click and drag that corner until the table expands to your desired height.

     

See also Understand QC Search Results.

Understand QC Search Results

After you search for the series to QC, you can do the following on the search results page.

• View image series.
• Assign a new QC status to one or more image series in your search results.
• Generate a QC Status History report.
• Download QC data.

View Image Series

Your search results appear in a table at the top of the page. You can view a selected image series in thumbnails or in an animated fashion, called cine mode. 

Scroll horizontally until the Viewers column is visible.

To view thumbnails

In the Viewers column, click the magnifying glass icon to view thumbnails of each image in the series.

The Series Details page appears, displaying the first image in the series on the left and the DICOM tags for the image on the right.

If there is more than one image in the series and DICOM tags for each image, you can view an animated slideshow of the images in the series. For more information about the controls in the animated slideshow, see Viewing Image Animation. The DICOM tags change when you view a different image in the series.

If the image series modality is Ultrasound, you can view each image in the series in multi-frame, as shown below. You can move to other images in the series by selecting them from the drop-down list.

If the collection you selected for viewing includes sequence information, the annotations show the sequence data identified by a (>) to the left of the Element column, as shown below.

Assign a New QC Status

As a curator, you may need to change the status of one or more images or image series. You can change the status of one or more selected images or image series individually or as a batch update. 

1. Select the series whose status you want to change by clicking the box to the left of its row in the search results. You can select more than one. To select all search results, click the top box to the left of Submission date.
   
2. In the New Status section, select the status options you want to apply to this series. Refer to the descriptions above of the search filters. 
   
3. Enter text into the change log box to track why you made the change.  This text will be part of the QC Status History Report that you can generate to track changes in visibility.
4. Click .

Generate a QC Status History Report

To view the status change log, search for the series you want to appear in the report, click the box to the left of that/those series, and then click .

The QC Status History report appears, displaying all changes that have been made to the status of the series you selected.

Download QC Data

To download data, search for the series you want to download, click the box(es) to the left of that/those series, and then click .

A file appears in your browser that you can download to your computer.

Approve Deletions

TCIA role required to use this feature: NCIA.SUPER_CURATOR

For more information about roles, see Creating a New NBIA User.

This function is part of a two-tier deletion process. A super-curator can approve the deletion of image series that have been identified as "To be deleted" in the Perform Quality Control tool. After you approve an image series for deletion, you can either wait for the next scheduled system-wide deletion job or you can immediately remove image series that are approved for deletion.

To approve series deletions, follow these steps. Prior to approving deletions, you must assign the QC status of "To be deleted" to one or more series in the Perform Quality Control tool.

1. Click Admin > Approve Deletions.
   The Approve Deletions page appears.

2. Select filters to help you locate the series you have previously marked for deletion. Options for doing this follow.

   Criteria	Description
   Collection	You can only search on one collection (site) at a time.
   Released	Limit your search to image series that have either been released or not. Click Ignore not to consider Released status at all in your search.
   Batch Number	In the Batch Number box, enter the batch number of the images/series you want to find.
   Confirmed as Complete	Select Yes to search for a set of images/series that has been confirmed as complete, No to search for a set of images/series that is ongoing, or No Change to not consider this field when searching.
   Subject ID	Separate multiple Subject IDs with commas and then select  to perform the search.
   Most Recent Submission	In the From and To boxes, enter the most recent series submission date range by selecting a date in the calendar or by using the format mm/dd/yyyy.

   Using your filter selections, TCIA searches for image series that you have marked for deletion and refreshes the page to show those series. You may have to scroll both horizontally and vertically to view all series information and options.

   

   Expand the table to see more rows. To do so, scroll horizontally until you see the two diagonal lines in the lower-right corner. Click and drag that corner until the table expands to your desired height.

   

3. Select the box in the row of the series you want to delete. You may select more than one.
4. Optionally, add text to the change log to explain why you are deleting the series. This text appears in your QC Status History Report.

5. Click to approve the deletion. 

Image series you approve for deletion are still visible in the system and identified as "To Be Deleted". They are removed from the system at a system-configured time, such as at midnight (called an "offline deletion"), unless you perform a manual deletion (called an "online deletion").

Perform Online Deletions

TCIA role required to use this feature: NCIA.DELETE_ADMIN

For more information about roles, see Creating a New NBIA User.

This function is part of a two-tier deletion process. Using the Online Deletion feature, an administrator can delete image series that have been approved for deletion. This immediately removes images that are approved for deletion, rather than requiring the administrator to wait for the next scheduled system-wide deletion job.

Before you can use the Online Deletion feature, you must first approve image series for deletion.

To manually delete series, follow these steps:

1. Click Admin > Perform Online Deletion.
   A list of image series that have been approved for deletion appears.
   
   
   

2. Click to delete the series immediately.

   Deleting an individual series?

   All series listed in this page are deleted. You cannot select one series on the page for online deletion and not the others.

Edit Collection Descriptions

TCIA role required to use this feature: NCIA.MANAGE_COLLECTION_DESCRIPTION

For more information about roles, see Creating a New NBIA User.

Collection descriptions are uploaded along with image data. An administrator can edit these descriptions and change the license applied to the collection. Users view descriptions and license information when they hover over a collection name in the Simple Search area of the TCIA Radiology Portal.

To edit a collection description:

1. Click Admin > Edit Collection Description.
   The Edit Collection Descriptions page appears.
   
2. Select a collection name.
   The current collection description appears on the right in two editor options. 
3. Edit the collection description. 
   The top editing window allows you to use familiar point-and-click text formatting options, while the bottom editing window allows you to edit using HTML.
4. Change the license selection if needed.
5. Click .

Edit Collection License

TCIA role required to use this feature: NCIA.MANAGE_COLLECTION_DESCRIPTION

For more information about roles, see Creating a New NBIA User.

You can add or edit a collection license to your installation of the TCIA Radiology Portal. This license then becomes available to select while editing a collection description. Users view descriptions and license information when they hover over a collection name in the Simple Search area of the TCIA Radiology Portal.

To add a collection license:

1. Click Admin > Edit Collection License.
   The Edit Collection Descriptions page appears.
   
2. Click .
   
3. Enter the long name, short name, and license URL for the new license.
4. Select the appropriate button indicating that commercial use is or is not allowed for the new license.
5. Click .

To edit a collection license:

1. Click Admin > Edit Collection License.
   The Edit Collection Descriptions page appears.
   
2. Click the arrow next to the first license name on the left to open the list of licenses.
3. Select the license you want to edit. 
   The names, URL, and commercial use selection appear on the right.
4. Edit the information as needed and click .
   or
   Delete the license from this installation by clicking .