Blood flow and delivery of oxygen and nutrients to tissues, collectively referred to as tissue perfusion, are abnormal in many diseases. Therefore, non-invasive perfusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measurements are a critical imaging biomarker for both diagnosis and treatment monitoring. Despite decades of innovation in image acquisition and implementation by all major MRI vendors, the process of converting images to a single number for clinical decision making is currently hindered by a poor reproducibility and accessibility (only for specialist sites) posing a major barrier to multicenter studies and widespread clinical use. This project – a partnership between the Open Science for Perfusion Imaging (OSIPI; perfusion MRI experts) and eScience (software engineers) – will develop a community-led software package, enabling reproducible, standardized, and straightforward analysis of perfusion MRI data. The tool will greatly reduce the barriers to perfusion MRI via easy data integration, click-and-play analysis, and automated batch processing options.
A first version of osipy is available in our github repository having a basic analysis pipeline for each of the perfusion modalities. It should be used with caution as it has not been fully validated and is far from complete. We encourage users to have a look at it and report any bugs or missing features through github issues or through direct contact with us. Similarly, a first version of a dashboard has been developed for easy analysis and data inspection. Not all perfusion modalities have been implemented, but fee free to inspect what we have so far! Also here, feedback is appreciated. We have decided to first focus on the implementation of the IVIM submodule.
The repository can be found here: OSIPI/osipy: https://github.com/OSIPI/osipy
Dashboard developments can be followed here: https://osipi.github.io/dashboard/
Documentation and tutorials can be found here: https://osipi.github.io/osipy/
For osipy to truly serve the community, we need to hear the needs and wishes from the potential users. Therefore, we have set up a requirements survey to collect users input. The responses will be used to define an implementation plan for the next steps of osipy. If you are reading this and working (or planning to work) with perfusion MRI data, please respond to our survey
