Questions About The Cancer Imaging Archive (TCIA) Website:

Do you have a User's Guide?

A detailed TCIA user's guide can be obtained by clicking on TCIA User Guide

How do I contact TCIA Help Desk?

The TCIA Help Desk can be reached in one of two ways:

  1. By email: help@cancerimagingarchive.net
  2. By phone: +1 314-747-4254

What are the hours of operation for TCIA Help Desk?

The hours of operation are 7:00am to 5:00pm CST, M-F.  Although closed weekends and holidays, you can submit a request at any time.  Holiday hours and further information may be found here.

What if I have questions on navigating TCIA website?

The TCIA User Guide should provide all the direction you need.  If you have additional questions please contact TCIA Help Desk. Simply call (+1 314-747-4254 ) or send an email help@cancerimagingarchive.net to the TCIA Help Desk.

What if I am unable to connect to TCIA website?

Please contact TCIA Help Desk. Simply call (+1 314-747-4254 ) or send an email help@cancerimagingarchive.net to the TCIA Help Desk.  

How do I submit feedback to TCIA website?

We welcome and appreciate your comments.  Feedback maybe submitted via feedback@cancerimagingarchive.net

I am being prompted to enter a verification code, but none is available and there is no place to type it?

A security warning prompt displays and asks "Do you want to view only the webpage content that was delivered securely". Answer NO to the prompt in order to see the captcha information that is used for verification.

If you answer YES, the captcha information will NOT display.

Questions About User Accounts:

I'm trying to register and after entering the Captcha phrase I get the error "The PWM configuration is invalid or corrupt. Please correct the error, or remove the configuration file." OR You might also receive a PWM 5033 Error.

Assuming you are using Internet Explorer, change your browser's language to English by following these steps:
1. From the menu bar, select Tools.
2. Select Internet Options.
3. Click on General > Language and set to English (US).

How do I obtain a TCIA user ID and password?

From TCIA login page, click on the Register Now link.   

What if I have issues pertaining to my TCIA user ID or password?

Assuming that you already have an account, from TCIA login page, click on I cannot access my account link.

Questions About Accessing Collections:

How do I find out additional information about a specific collection?

You can reference the corresponding wiki pages for any particular collection when you are logged into TCIA. From the search page, in the Collection area, mouse over and click on the “question mark” which will return information on each collection. If there is a wiki available for the collection, click on it.

OR You can find additional information pertaining to image data from the TCIA home page > http://www.cancerimagingarchive.net/

In the middle of the page, under For Researchers, click on the link titled The Image Collections which will direct you to our Public Wiki. This wiki pages is organized into purpose-built Collections.

A collection of studies typically includes studies from several subjects (patients). In some collections, there may be only one study per subject. In other collections, subjects may have been followed over time, in which case there will be multiple studies per subject. The subjects typically have in common a particular disease and/or particular anatomical site (prostate, lung, brain, etc.)

The table on the wiki contains a list of collections available on The Cancer Imaging Archive. Each link in the table contains information concerning the scientific value of a collection, as well as additional meta-data where available from the data providers.

Under the Completed and Ongoing Collections table, you can sort any of the columns. For example if you are looking for MRI images of the Prostate, you could sort by Anatomical Sites which will bring all MRIs of the Prostate to the top of the list.

How do I request access to a restricted collection?

Access to a restricted collection requires prior approval. Simply call (+1 314-747-4254 ) or send an email help@cancerimagingarchive.net to the TCIA Help Desk. Please indicate the name of the restricted collection.

How do I determine the status of a collection that has been submitted?

Please contact TCIA Help Desk. Simply call (+1 314-747-4254 ) or send an email help@cancerimagingarchive.net to the TCIA Help Desk. Please indicate the name of the collection.

Is there a listing available of all of the modality abbreviations?

Yes they are listed here.

Questions About Searching for Images:

How do I search and download images as well as find out information about a specific collection

Let's begin by using the the modality of MR as an example to download MRI images of the Prostate, follow the steps below:

1. Log into TCIA.

2. Click on the Search Images link.

3. If you want to download all the MRI prostate images then select under Image Modality(ies) MR, under Anatomical Site, select Prostate and click on Submit.

4. Click on the "CHECK ALL" button to select them all. Once you have selected the series that you wish to download and click the "Add To Basket" button. This puts all the series from every page in the basket. For determining collection that the images go to, when you select the MR and Prostate and the system does the search, the collection ID will show up along with the subject ID.

5. Select "View My Basket".

6. On the next page, you do not need to check any boxes unless you wish to remove a series from your basket. In that case, you would select the box and then click on the "Remove Selected Items" button at the top.

7. Click on the Download Manager link.

You can reference the corresponding wiki pages for any particular collection when you are logged into TCIA. From the search page, in the Collection area, mouse over and click on the “question mark” which will return information on each collection. If there is a wiki available for the collection, click on it.

OR You can find additional information pertaining to image data from the TCIA home page > http://www.cancerimagingarchive.net/

You do not need to be logged into TCIA to view this information. In the middle of the page, under For Researchers, click on the link titled The Image Collections which will direct you to our Public Wiki. This wiki pages is organized into purpose-built Collections.

A collection of studies typically includes studies from several subjects (patients). In some collections, there may be only one study per subject. In other collections, subjects may have been followed over time, in which case there will be multiple studies per subject. The subjects typically have in common a particular disease and/or particular anatomical site (prostate, lung, brain, etc.)

The table on the wiki contains a list of collections available on The Cancer Imaging Archive. Each link in the table contains information concerning the scientific value of a collection, as well as additional meta-data where available from the data providers.

Under the Completed and Ongoing Collections table, you can sort any of the columns. For example if you are looking for MRI images of the Prostate, you could sort by Anatomical Sites which will bring all MRIs of the Prostate to the top of the list.

How do I search images?

The NBIA software enables you to search for images in The Cancer Imaging Archive's local in vivo image repository.  See Chapter 2 of the TCIA User's Guide for more detailed instructions.


What if my image search comes up empty?

You must use caution not to create such a restrictive query that the search returns no results.  Our recommendation is you start with one criterion and add more one at a time to refine your search.

How do I manage and view images in my data basket?

As you review search results in The Cancer Imaging Archive, you can add items at any level to your data basket for subsequent download.  See Chapter 3 of the TCIA User's Guide for detailed instructions.

What if I have a question on my query history or saving queries?

After you launch a search, the Search Criteria page displays the search criteria summary for your review. It allows you to save the query for future use.  See Chapter 2 of the TCIA User's Guide for more information.

What if I have a question pertaining to creating, editing or searching a shared list?

Anyone can create a shared list. Once you do so, you will need to record the exact name of the shared list to distribute to others who may want to use the list. That is the only way they can access it.  See Chapter 3 of the TCIA User's Guide for more information.

How do I search for images showing a particular disease?

The collection descriptions provide the best source of information about what disease was studied.  On the search-images page, scroll down to the Collections block, and click on the question-mark to the left of the collection name.  Click to see a brief description of the collection, usually with pointers to a site where more detailed information about the collection is available. 

Questions About Downloading Images:

How do I download images in JPEG, TIFF, BMP rather than DICOM format?

The Download Manager permits only the downloading of DICOM images.
If you want to capture a large number of images, you should download in DICOM and then reference the websites below for assistance with utilities that will convert DICOM images to other formats.

  1. http://www.idoimaging.com
  2. http://pixelmed.com

If you wish to only download a single image (or a handful of images - one at a time): (1) In the NBIA application, choose a study and series, then Show Images; (2) right-click over the image and Save Picture As *.jpeg.

How do I download annotated image files?

The XML files are in the series folder since they are related to the images in that series.  You can best find the annotated files by viewing the list of files in a folder.   

What Java version is required for Download Manager?

Java version 6 or higher of the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) must be installed to be able to open the Download Manager. See Chapter 3 of the TCIA User's Guide for more information.

What if I receive an error from Download Manager or Download Manager hangs?

The number of series that can be downloaded using Download Manager is dependent on several factors. Average image size, RAM on your computer and Java limitations all factor into how much you can download. If you experience issues or errors associated with the download you will need to reduce the number of series in your basket and try again.

I am behind a proxy server, will Download Manager work?

Accessing The Cancer Imaging Archive's Download Manager directly through a proxy server is currently not supported. If your only access to the Internet is through a proxy server, then our current recommendation is to ask your IT Department to allow your workstation to bypass the proxy server for direct access to https://public.cancerimagingarchive.net/ncia

Java may be configured to utilize proxy settings; however, the developers of NBIA have not tested whether Download Manager correctly handles such settings.

What if I am unable to download images through download manager and receive an error message in the status bar?

In order for our support team to perform additional troubleshooting, the following information is needed:
1. A screen capture of the error message.
2. A screen capture of the Java console (you may need to enable viewing the Java console using the Control Panel > Java Control Panel > Advanced > Settings: Java Console > Show Console.
3. Operating system and version.

How many series can Download Manager download from a single shopping cart?

The maximum number of series that the download manager can manage from a single shopping cart is somewhere around 3500. The limit is imposed by Java. To determine how many series are in your basket at a given time, on the left nav at the top (under My Data Basket > View Contents) the number of series in a basket will display.