ViewDEX 2.0: a Java-based DICOM-compatible software for observer performance studies

ViewDEX (Viewer for Digital Evaluation of X-ray images) is a Java-based DICOM-compatible software tool for observer performance studies that can be used to display medical images with simultaneous registration of the observer's response. The current release, ViewDEX 2.0 is a development of ViewDEX 1.0, which was released in 2007. Both versions are designed to run in a Java environment and do not require any special installation. For example, the program can be located on a memory stick or stand alone hard drive and be run from there. ViewDEX is managed and configured by editing property files, which are plain text files where users, tasks (questions, definitions, etc.) and functionality (WW/WL, PAN, ZOOM, etc.) are defined. ViewDEX reads all common DICOM image formats and the images can be stored in any location connected to the computer. ViewDEX 2.0 is designed so that the user in a simple way can alter if the questions presented to the observers are related to localization or not, enabling e.g. free-response ROC, standard ROC and visual grading studies, as well as combinations of these, 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.