ROI Loading Saving and Quantification Tools
The first tab in the 3D ROI Operator window features tools for basic input/output operations, quantification, and viewing functionality. To freely navigate through the slices with the cursor, this panel must be active.
The buttons in this tab perform several functions within the operator.
Load an ROI from Disk
The 3D ROI operator supports file formats of VQ 3D ROI (.rmha), RTSTRUCT DICOM (.dcm), and vtkStructuredPoints (.vtk). To load an ROI from disk, click the Load ROI button 
, select the Load from disk option and choose the desired ROI from the file browser.
Although RTSTRUCT files are intended to be paired with a referenced image, VQ allows you to load any RTSTRUCT even if it was not created for that image. If contours in the RTSTRUCT file overlap, the ROIs will be loaded in separate layers.
Save an ROI to Disk
To save an ROI to disk, click the Load ROI button
, select the Store to disk option and specify a name and location for the file. All existing regions will be written to the same ROI file.
When saving RTSTRUCT files, keep in mind that the RTSTRUCT file format specifies contours using locations from a referenced image. If the referenced image was resampled, the origin was moved, or any other changes were made to the image in VQ that would change the coordinate space of the image, the currently loaded image will need to be saved as well. This is to enforce that the locations of the contour points in the RTSTRUCT file match the coordinate space of the new referenced image.
Load an ROI from an iPACS
To load an ROI from an iPACS, click the Load ROI button
and select the Load from iPACS option. The image data currently loaded must have been retrieved from an iPACS, and there must be an ROI associated with that image already stored on the iPACS.
If only one ROI exists for the image, that ROI will automatically be loaded. If multiple ROIs exist, the user will be given a drop-down menu of available ROIs to choose from. The choices can be distinguished by the ROI creator’s iPACS username, date and time of creation, region names, and file type (RMHA or RTSTRUCT).
Save an ROI to an iPACS
To save an ROI to an iPACS, click the Load ROI button
, select the Store to iPACS option, and select the desired format (RMHA or RTSTRUCT) of the file that will be uploaded. The ROI will be automatically associated with the current image. Unique filenames will be generated based on the creator’s username and the patient’s name from the image header. Previously saved ROIs will not be overwritten. The files will be saved to a subdirectory of the current project on the WebDisk, named roi.
Similarly to saving RTSTRUCT files locally, the contour points in the generated RTSTRUCT will be in the coordinate space of the current image, so if resampling or other changes that affect the image’s coordinate space were performed on the image in VQ, the current image will now be the referenced image for any RTSTRUCT. The reference image should be saved to the iPACS before saving the RTSTRUCT so that the RTSTRUCT files are associated with the referenced image matches their coordinate space.
Select Current Layer
By default, all layers are loaded or saved when loading or saving an ROI. However, the user can specify to save only a single layer by loading or saving the current layer. This functionality is only supported for RMHA files. The RTSTRUCT file format does not support layers because contours can be overlapping.
Merge ROIs from an iPACS or Disk
To append previously stored ROIs to a set of ROIs currently open in the 3D ROI operator, click the Load ROI button
and select Merge from iPACS or Merge from disk, depending on where the additional ROIs are stored. The additional ROIs associated with that image will be appended to the currently open ROI set in the 3D ROI viewer. Previously saved ROIs will not be overwritten.
If there is any overlap of existing and merged ROIs, a new ROI will be created and named as a combination of the two ROIs listed names. For example, if a portion of a “Heart” and “Liver” ROI overlap after a merge, the new combined ROI created will be named “Heart/Liver”, and consist of only the specific volume of Heart and Liver that overlap.
To associate the combined ROI with the proper ROI, right-click the combined ROI and select Delete ROI. A popup window will open and allows the user to move the pixels of the selected ROI to either the background or another ROI. Selecting “background” will delete the ROI all together.
