MRI Disc viewing software

[PastorDan]

I picked up a disc with some CT scans and ultrasound images today, and noticed that the autorun software included was called "eFilm Lite", by Merge Software, (IIRC).  .  It was the same program, though a slightly different version, that was on the disc I received from the MRI center about 3 weeks ago (Version 2.0.0 vs. 2.1.1).  That one wouldn't run on either of my home computers; I've yet to try the one I received today.  One of our machines is an ancient "Y2K" model that still runs on Windows 98 Second Edition.  The other is the church's notebook, which is approaching its 3nd birthday and uses Windows Vista Business.  It looks like this software only runs on Windows XP.

For those of you who have obtained and looked at your MRI pictures, what has your experience been?  Does the whole industry use this program?  What do they plan to do as people move to newer systems?

[young at heart]

PASTOR DAN,

MY LAST MRI IMAGES ON A T4 I COULD NOT VEIW THROUGH VISTA HOWEVER MY 14 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER DOWNLOADED THEM THROUGH A PROGRAM ON MY LAP TOP BY PASSING VISTA---DON'T ASK BUT SHE DONE IT.

EVEN THOUGH I RUN MICRO SOFT WORKS 2007 PROFESSIONAL SHE BY PASSED MY SYSTEM THERE ALSO,SHE  WAS ABLE TO RUN A PROGRAM THAT REQUIRED THE 2003 VERSION.

I DON'T ASK ANY MORE,BUT THAT KID CAN RUN A COMPUTER AND BY PASS AND REROUTE PROGRAMS LIKE NO TOMORROW.

I'LL ASK HER WHEN SHE COMES FROM HER DADS TOMORROW HOW YOU CAN RUN THEM.

AS FOR 3ND BIRTHDAY MAYBE ITS RELAYED TO MY MENSDAY,WHEN I ACTUALLY MEANT  TO SAY TUESDAY ONE DAY.

T-LYNN

[PastorDan]

Somewhere on our Health Pages section, there's an article that tells us we'll never be able to match up lesions with symptoms, and I seem to recall getting the impression that the author didn't think we'd learn much from these images ourselves, which is certainly likely, I'd agree.  I am, nevertheless, curious to see what I might, particularly when I wonder if the visual and intellectual capacities on this side of the screen will last until the next version of that software is released.

[ChunkyMonkeysMommy]

You inspired me to get out my old CDs of my MRIs. I wasn't able to view them when I got them, as my pc at the time could have been used by the Flinstones, probably had a little bird inside it, pecking everything out on my screen, lol. Now, the problem is that I have no idea what I'm looking at, haha! My neuro never showed them to me or went over them in detail, just told me 6 lesions on the brain and 1 on the spine. Big help. :)

[PastorDan]

Well, I finally got around to loading the older disk, with the CT scans & ultrasound, into my CD drive, and it actually works.  If & when I get time, I'll try to find a way to use the older software to open the MRI images, which came on the disk with the slightly newer software.  There is a feature, I discovered, which allows the images to be exported as good old fashioned JPEG files instead of their proprietary format.  I have more CT images of my brain than you could imagine.

[PastorDan]

You make an excellent point about the usefulness of these discs over time, too; a point i should've thought of myself, because i've been in the thick of such question in government records retention programs.  Tonight, a friend used this software to export some of the images as .jpg files, which are pretty much a universal format.  The disc has them in something I've never heard of (don't ask me tonight ;).

[PastorDan]

Good idea, but I am the computer tech person in our congregation.

Anybody figure out what a notebook's 3nd birthday is?  My brain is tired X 2 tonight.

[Lulu54]

PD- my laptop is also running Vista, as much as I didn't want to, and I have no problems opening the 3 MRI cd's I've been given by two different labs.  However, my ENT doc could not open them.  I can't tell you why - maybe you have a computer tech person in your congregation willing to work through it with you?

good luck!

[shoshin]

There is more than one kind of MRI software out there so they're not all the same. (I've had two different kinds--one of which was much easier to use than the other)

It does seem to be a bit short-sighted for them to use software that will only work on Windows XP and it's a very good question how they're going to be able to compare images ten years down the line if the software is that finicky. Although I suppose if the image files are some standard type, maybe you'd be able to see them with newer software. On the other hand, my first MRI produced these gigantic, unwieldy films, which I guess would hold up better if you could only find a place to put them.

sho