FreeSurfer 5.3 QA Tools
Deprecated
Note: The QA tools described in this page were developed for FreeSurfer 5.3. For versions 7+, use the following executable to compute QA stats:
qatools.py --help
Contents
The QA Tools are intended to be used in assessing the quality of one or more FreeSurfer recons. These scripts are capable of verifying all steps in the FreeSurfer recon-all stream were executed and in the correct order, as well as verifying all files exist and were created in the correct order. Additionally, these scripts can be used to detect potential outlier regions in the aseg.mgz within a dataset, calculate SNR and WM intensity values, and collect detailed snapshots of various volumes. The following people have been major contributors in developing these scripts: David Koh, Stephanie Lee, Jenni Pacheco, Vasanth Pappu, and Louis Vinke.
The QA Tools scripts are a work-in-progress. Any feedback, bug reports, or feature requests are appreciated (email vinke[at]nmr.mgh.harvard.edu).
Click here to view steps for an alternate QA procedure using Qdec.
Setup
Click the link below to download the QA Tools scripts. Extract all the contents of the tar file into a new directory. Source your local version of FreeSurfer, set your subjects directory variable, and set the QA Tools path:
<source freesurfer> In tcsh: setenv SUBJECTS_DIR /path/to/your/subjects_dir setenv QA_TOOLS /path/to/QATools/scripts In bash: export SUBJECTS_DIR=/path/to/your/subjects_dir export QA_TOOLS=/path/to/QATools/scripts
Dependencies
QA Tools requires:
ImageMagick Studio version 6.2.8 or higher when using the snapshots option. This can be downloaded here.
The GNU awk (gawk) utility. This can be downloaded here.
Getting Started
Run the following command to view explanations for all the QA Tools options:
$QA_TOOLS/recon_checker -help
By default QA-Tools will check the status log, the order files were created, the aseg for any outliers, create snapshots of slices throughout various volumes, and calculate SNR and WM measures. See the flags below if you want to disable one or more of these options.
Arguments
Required Flagged Arguments
-s <subject1> [<subject2>...] |
Case ID for one or more subjects located in $SUBJECTS_DIR (use -s-file as alternative) |
Optional Flagged Arguments
-subjid <subject1> [<subject2>...] |
Specify subject(s) to process |
-s-file |
Specify a file with a list of subjects. May be used instead of -s or -subjid |
-snaps-out |
Full path and name of snapshots HTML file. Default: "$SUBJECTS_DIR/QA/QA_check.html" |
-snaps-detailed |
Take a more detailed set of snapshots |
-snaps-overwrite |
Take all snapshots, overwriting any existing snapshots |
-no-snaps |
Do not take snapshots |
-snaps-only |
Only take snapshots |
-outputFOF <file-order list> |
Specify a file which lists the proper order of output files |
-asegLUT <file> |
Specify a file containing aseg outlier lookup table |
-gen-outputFOF |
Generate the file order list from the first subject |
-gen-asegLUT <file> |
Generate an aseg look up table from your subjects that can be used to identify aseg outliers |
-nocheck-aseg |
Do not check for aseg outliers |
-nocheck-status |
Do not check status log file for each subject |
-nocheck-outputFOF |
Do not check output order of files for each subject |
-nocheck-SNR-WM |
Do not calculate SNR and WM measures for each subject |
-completeStatusFile <file> |
Compares each subject's status log file to the specified log file |
-completeStatusFiles <file> |
Compares each subject's status log file to each of the complete status logs listed in <file> |
-ignore <process1> [<process2> ...] |
Specify one or more FreeSurfer processes to ignore while checking status files |
Future Directions
- Implement -gen-status flag
- Shorter alternative flags
- Handle cases where FS ran multiple times (status_file_checker)
- Generate status log file from specified subject
- Create file order and status step lists for longitudinal QA
- Snapshots taken using Freeview
- Specify snapshots be taken of specific regions found in aparc+aseg.mgz with Freeview
- Automatically adjust intensity/contrast of volumes before taking snapshots
- Compile snapshots into GIF animations
- Detect outliers in aparc and aparc2009 volumes
- Handle cases where two files flip/flop in creation order (output_file_checker)
- WM/SNR measurement outputs to seperate file (tab-delimited)
Make image & html links for snapshots relative so directory can be moved or renamed
Release Notes
v1.1 (3/5/2012)
- Log and screen output modified
- Created default file order list for *.long subject folders processed with FSv5.1 (default_FOF_FSv5.1_long)
Known Issues
To get the "-gen-asegLUT" flag of 'recon_checker' to work on FS 5.3 data, you need to change the helper 'gnicv' script to grep on "EstimatedTotalIntraCranialVol" rather than "ICV" (due to the name change of that variable in the stats/aseg.stats file relative to FS 5.1).
- When taking snapshots, the tkmedit and tksurfer windows that appear can't be blocked by other windows, and the screensaver can't be activated while these scripts are running. Otherwise, the script will take snapshots of the screensaver or the interfering windows. The monitor can be physically turned off while the scripts are running, however, to save power.
For internal users
If you want to disable your screensaver so snaps can be taken overnight, set the value in
- ~/.gconf/desktop/gnome/session/%gconf.xml
to the number of minutes you want to pass before your screensaver activates (eg 960 for 16 hours). Also, go to System Preferences -> Screensaver and click on Power Management. In the "On AC Power" tab, choose Never in both of the pull down menus.