TCIA Current Help Topics

The most convenient method of downloading is by using the NBIA Data Retriever. You must install the NBIA Data Retriever before you begin downloading. You only have to install it once to use it in future downloading sessions.

Consult the NBIA Data Retriever FAQ for more information about NBIA Data Retriever versions and usage.

To install the NBIA Data Retriever on Windows

1. Download the installer package for Windows using the Windows link above.
2. Save the installer package file to your computer.
3. Install the app by double-clicking the installer package file.
4. Agree to the terms in the License Agreement and click Install.
5. When the Setup Wizard ends, click Finish.

To install the NBIA Data Retriever on Mac

1. On your Mac, find the NBIA Data Retriever on the Mac App Store.

   The NBIA Data Retriever is free but still requires you to log in to download it. Consider changing your iOS Password Settings so that you can download free software without having to log in separately for it.

2. Click Get, then click Install App. The NBIA Data Retriever is free.
   The app starts downloading to your Mac. When the download is complete, you can open a manifest file with the NBIA Data Retriever.

To install the NBIA Data Retriever on Linux (centOS or Ubuntu)

You must have the sudo privilege on your computer and a sudo password to install the NBIA Data Retriever on CentOS and Ubuntu.

1. Download the installer package for centOS or Ubuntu using the links above.
2. Save the installer package file to your computer.
3. Open a command window and go to the location where you saved the installer.

To download images using the NBIA Data Retriever

1. Search for images of interest.
2. Add those images to your cart.
3. Click the cart icon in the top-right of the page .
   The cart contents appear.
   
4. Click .
   A message appears reminding you to download the NBIA Data Retriever. If you have already downloaded it, click Do not show this message again and click . Otherwise, click  to go to a page with links for downloads for each operating system.
   

5. Open the manifest-xxx.tcia file.
   The  NBIA Data Retriever appears, with the items you added to your cart in the Downloads table. See the note about the file naming system that appears in the manifest file.
   
   The NBIA Data Retriever lists all items you selected in the cart. You can hover your mouse over the Patient ID, Study Instance, and Series Instance columns to reveal the complete corresponding IDs. You can also resize a column by selecting and dragging the column border.
   
   If you do not want to download any of those items, select them in the Downloads table and then click Delete. When you remove an item from the Downloads table, it stays in your cart in the Radiology Portal. 
   

   NBIA Data Retriever File Naming System

   The file naming system used by the NBIA Data Retriever has been revised to provide a more natural ordering of the files within each series. This has been accomplished by first ordering the DICOM files by ordinal position of acquisition number and then by ordinal position of instance number.  The files are then assigned numbers with the lowest acquisition being 1 and the lowest instance number within that acquisition being 1, separated by a dash.  The numbers are incremented by 1 as the next values are encountered.  All values are left-padded with zeros to provide for the ordering within the file system. 

   As an example, a series with 2 acquisition numbers with each acquisition having 42 instance numbers would start with 1-01.dcm for the lowest acquisition number and the lowest instance number in that acquisition.  The last file in that acquisition would be 1-42.dcm.  Then the second acquisition would start with 2-01.dcm, ending with 2-42.dcm, in that acquisition.  For the purposes of ordering, an empty value in either acquisition number or instance number is lower than an file having a value for those number.

6. Click Browse to navigate to the destination where you want the images/annotations to be downloaded.

7. Click Start to begin the download. You can monitor the status of the full download in the progress bar on top, and for each collection in the Progress column. The Status column indicates when the download for each item is complete.

   At any point in the process, you can click the Pause and Resume buttons to temporarily stop and restart the process.

   Note that files downloaded this way are not compressed. The downloaded files are stored in a child folder under the destination folder such as Collection Name > Patient ID > part of Study Date + part of Study ID + part of Study Description + last 5 digits of Study Instance UID > part of Series Number + part of Series Description + last 5 digits of Series Instance UID.

   Network Error?

   If network errors occur during large downloads, the NBIA Data Retriever retries downloading the series in the manifest file the number of times that your administrator has configured. The default is four times.

   After the automatic retries, you have the option of retrying just the failed series, saving an error report, which you can share with the TCIA help desk, and exiting.