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Overview

Cornerstone3D is a lightweight Javascript library for visualization of medical images in modern web browsers that support the HTML5 canvas element. Using Cornerstone3D and its accompanying libraries such as Cornerstone3DTools, you can achieve a wide range of imaging tasks.




Features​

Rendering​

Using the new Cornerstone3D rendering engine and its Stack and Volume viewports, you can:

  • Render all transfer syntaxes including various compressed formats such as JPEG2000, JPEG Lossless
  • Stream the slices of a volume and view them in real-time as they are being loaded
  • View the same volume in different orientations such as axial, sagittal, and coronal without having to re-load the entire volume again (minimum memory footprint)
  • View oblique slices in a volume
  • Render different blends of the same volume (e.g. MIP (maximum intensity projection) and average intensity projection)
  • Fuse and overlay multiple images such as PET/CT fusion
  • Render color images and render them as a volume
  • Fall back to CPU rendering when GPU rendering is not available
  • Change calibration of the images by modifying the metadata for the viewport (e.g. pixel spacing)

Manipulation​

Cornerstone3DTools enables the following features:

  • Zoom in and out of the image using mouse bindings
  • Pan the image in any direction
  • Scroll through the image in any orientation even in oblique slices
  • Change the window level of the image

Annotation​

Cornerstone3DTools also enables annotating images using tools. All annotations are rendered as SVG elements which ensures that they are displayed at the best possible quality in any monitor resolution. Annotations in Cornerstone3DTools are stored in the actual physical space of the image which lets you render/modify the same annotations in multiple viewports. In addition, you can:

  • Activate certain tools on certain viewports with ToolGroups (e.g., on scroll activate slice scrolling on CT Axial viewport but volume rotation for PT MIP viewport)
  • Measure distances between two points using the Length tool
  • Measure length and width using bidirectional line tools
  • Calculate statistics such as mean, standard deviation of a region of interest using Rectangle/Elliptical ROI Tool
  • Use crosshairs to find corresponding points in images of different viewports and navigate slices using reference lines
  • Assign different tools to be activated while holding a specific modifier key (e.g. shift, ctrl, alt)
  • Create your own custom tools

Segmentation​

Cornerstone3D supports rendering segmentations of images as labelmaps in 3D in the Volume viewport. You can:

  • Render segmentations as labelmaps in the volume viewport (e.g. segmentation of CT lung)
  • View segmentations in any orientation (e.g. axial, sagittal, coronal) even in oblique slices
  • Change labelmap configuration (e.g. color, opacity, outline rendering, outline thickness etc.)
  • Edit/draw a segment in 3D Axial, Sagittal, Coronal using scissor tools such as Rectangle, Ellipse scissors
  • Apply a certain threshold to a labelmap for the region of interest

Synchronization​

Cornerstone3D supports synchronization between multiple viewports. Currently, there are two implemented synchronizers and we are working on more.

  • WindowLevel synchronizer: synchronizes the window level of the source and target viewports
  • Camera synchronizer: synchronizes the camera of the source and target viewports

About this documentation​

Our documentation can be broken down into the following sections:

  • Getting Started: covers the scope of the project, related libraries and other relevant information, and installation instructions
  • Tutorials: provides a series of tutorials for different tasks such as rendering, tools, segmentation
  • How-to-Guides: provides guides for more advanced tasks such as custom loaders, custom metadata providers
  • Concepts: explains an in-depth look at various technical concepts that are used in the library
  • Contributing: explains how to contribute to the project and how to report bugs
  • Migration Guides: includes instructions for upgrading from legacy cornerstone-core and cornerstone-tools to Cornerstone3D and Cornerstone3DTools
  • FAQ: provides answers to frequently asked questions
  • Help: provides information of how to get help with the library
  • Test Coverage Report: provides a detailed report of the test coverage of the library
  • Examples: Displays the live examples of the library
  • API Reference: provides a detailed description of the API and how to use each function

If a page is no longer up-to-date, you can author a PR to update it by modifying the files in /packages/docs/docs/*.md. Read more on how to contribute here.