ViewDEX: A java-based software for presentation and evaluation of medical images in observer performance studies

Observer performance studies are time-consuming tasks, both for the participating observers and for the scientists collecting and analyzing the data. A possible way to optimize such studies is to perform the study in a completely digital environment. A software tool - ViewDEX (Viewer for Digital Evaluation of X-ray images) - has been developed in Java, enabling it to function on almost any computer. ViewDEX is a DICOM-compatible software tool that can be used to display medical images with simultaneous registration of the observer's response. ViewDEX is designed so that the user in a simple way can alter the types of questions and images presented to the observers, enabling ROC, MAFC and visual grading studies to be conducted in a fast and efficient way. The software can also be used for bench marking and for educational purposes. The results from each observer are saved in a log file, which can be exported for further analysis. The software is freely available for non-commercial purposes.