MITK DiffusionImage Replacement Guide

We have decided to remove the MITK::DiffusionImage and instead represent diffusion weighted images by mitk::Image pointing to an itk::VectorImage . This is mainly due to the fact, that there is no longer a reason to use separate classes and unifying the image reduces the maintenance cost.

What to replace

When adjusting your code to use the new data type you will have to replace the some calls, mitkDiffusionImagePointer is a MITK::DiffusionImage::Pointer, mitkImagePointer is the MITK::Image::Pointer containing the same data.

Old code

<syntaxhighlight lang="cpp">

 typedef mitk::DiffusionImage<DiffusionPixelType> DiffusionImageType;
 typedef DiffusionImageType::GradientDirectionContainerType GradientDirectionContainerType;

 // cast node
 DiffusionImageType* mitkDiffusionImagePointer= static_cast<DiffusionImageType*>(node->GetData());

 // create new vector image data
 mitkDiffusionImagePointer->SetVectorImage( filter-GetOutput() );

 // get gradient directions
 mitkDiffusionImagePointer->GetDirections();

 // get reference b value
 mitkDiffusionImagePointer->GetReferenceBValue();

 // get b value map
 mitkDiffusionImagePointer->GetBValueMap();

 // get the vector image data
 mitkDiffusionImagePointer->GetVectorImage();

 // initialize image from contained data
 mitkDiffusionImagePointer->InitializeFromVectorImage();

 // add node to datastorage

 // check whether something is a diffusion image
 if ( mitkDiffusionImagePointer.IsNotNull() )

</syntaxhighlight>

New Code

<syntaxhighlight lang="cpp">

 typedef itk::VectorImage<DiffusionPixelType, dimension> ITKDiffusionImageType;
 typedef mitk::GradientDirectionsProperty::GradientDirectionsContainerType GradientDirectionContainerType;

 // cast node
 mitk::Image* mitkImagePointer = static_cast<mitk::Image*>(node->GetData());

 // create new vector image data
 mitk::Image::Pointer mitkImagePointer = mitk::ImportItkImage( filter->GetOutput() );

 // get gradient directions
 static_cast<mitk::GradientDirectionsProperty*>( mitkImagePointer->GetProperty(
   mitk::DiffusionPropertyHelper::GRADIENTCONTAINERPROPERTYNAME.c_str()).GetPointer() )
   ->GetGradientDirectionsContainer();

 // get reference b value
 static_cast<mitk::FloatProperty*>(mitkImagePointer->GetProperty
   (mitk::DiffusionPropertyHelper::REFERENCEBVALUEPROPERTYNAME.c_str()).GetPointer() )
   ->GetValue();

 // get b value map
 static_cast<mitk::BValueMapProperty*>(mitkImagePointer->GetProperty
   (mitk::DiffusionPropertyHelper::BVALUEMAPPROPERTYNAME.c_str()).GetPointer() )
   ->GetBValueMap();

 // get the vector image data
 ITKDiffusionImageType::Pointer itkVectorImagePointer = ITKDiffusionImageType::New();
 mitk::CastToItkImage(mitkImagePointer, itkVectorImagePointer);

 // initialize image from contained data
 mitkImagePointer->InitializeByItk( itkVectorImagePointer.GetPointer() );

 // add node to datastorage
 imageNode->SetProperty
  (mitk::DiffusionPropertyHelper::ISDIFFUSIONWEIGHTEDIMAGEPROPERTYNAME.c_str(), 
  mitk::BoolProperty::New( true ) );

 // check whether something is a diffusion image
 bool isDiffusionImage(false);
 imageNode->GetBoolProperty
 (mitk::DiffusionPropertyHelper::ISDIFFUSIONWEIGHTEDIMAGEPROPERTYNAME.c_str(), 
  isDiffusionImage);
 if ( isDiffusionImage )

</syntaxhighlight>

for an example of how to create a new mitk::Image containing a VectorImage take a look at