<s>
3D	B-Application
Slicer	I-Application
(	O
Slicer	O
)	O
is	O
a	O
free	B-Application
and	I-Application
open	I-Application
source	I-Application
software	I-Application
package	O
for	O
image	B-General_Concept
analysis	I-General_Concept
and	O
scientific	B-Application
visualization	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Slicer	O
is	O
used	O
in	O
a	O
variety	O
of	O
medical	O
applications	O
,	O
including	O
autism	O
,	O
multiple	O
sclerosis	O
,	O
systemic	O
lupus	O
erythematosus	O
,	O
prostate	O
cancer	O
,	O
lung	O
cancer	O
,	O
breast	O
cancer	O
,	O
schizophrenia	B-Application
,	O
orthopedic	O
biomechanics	O
,	O
COPD	O
,	O
cardiovascular	O
disease	O
and	O
neurosurgery	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
3D	B-Application
Slicer	I-Application
is	O
a	O
free	B-Application
open	B-Application
source	I-Application
software	I-Application
(	O
BSD-style	B-Operating_System
license	I-Operating_System
)	O
that	O
is	O
a	O
flexible	O
,	O
modular	O
platform	O
for	O
image	B-General_Concept
analysis	I-General_Concept
and	O
visualization	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
3D	B-Application
Slicer	I-Application
is	O
extended	O
to	O
enable	O
development	O
of	O
both	O
interactive	O
and	O
batch	B-General_Concept
processing	I-General_Concept
tools	O
for	O
a	O
variety	O
of	O
applications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
3D	B-Application
Slicer	I-Application
provides	O
image	B-Algorithm
registration	I-Algorithm
,	O
processing	O
of	O
DTI	O
(	O
diffusion	O
tractography	O
)	O
,	O
an	O
interface	O
to	O
external	O
devices	O
for	O
image	O
guidance	O
support	O
,	O
and	O
GPU-enabled	O
volume	O
rendering	O
,	O
among	O
other	O
capabilities	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
3D	B-Application
Slicer	I-Application
has	O
a	O
modular	O
organization	O
that	O
allows	O
the	O
addition	O
of	O
new	O
functionality	O
and	O
provides	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
generic	O
features	O
not	O
available	O
in	O
competing	O
tools	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
interactive	O
visualization	O
capabilities	O
of	O
3D	B-Application
Slicer	I-Application
include	O
the	O
ability	O
to	O
display	O
arbitrarily	O
oriented	O
image	O
slices	O
,	O
build	O
surface	O
models	O
from	O
image	O
labels	O
,	O
and	O
hardware	O
accelerated	O
volume	O
rendering	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
3D	B-Application
Slicer	I-Application
also	O
supports	O
a	O
rich	O
set	O
of	O
annotation	O
features	O
(	O
fiducials	B-Architecture
and	O
measurement	O
widgets	O
,	O
customized	O
color	O
maps	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Slicer	O
is	O
compiled	O
for	O
use	O
on	O
multiple	O
computing	O
platforms	O
,	O
including	O
Windows	B-Application
,	O
Linux	B-Application
,	O
and	O
macOS	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Slicer	O
is	O
distributed	O
under	O
a	O
BSD	B-Operating_System
style	O
,	O
free	B-Application
,	O
open	B-Application
source	I-Application
license	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
3D	B-Application
Slicer	I-Application
version	O
2	O
has	O
been	O
downloaded	O
several	O
thousand	O
times	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
next	O
major	O
refactoring	O
of	O
Slicer	O
was	O
initiated	O
in	O
2009	O
,	O
which	O
transitioned	O
the	O
GUI	B-Application
of	O
Slicer	O
from	O
using	O
KWWidgets	O
to	O
Qt	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Qt-enabled	O
Slicer	O
version	O
4	O
was	O
released	O
in	O
2011	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Slicer	O
software	O
has	O
enabled	O
a	O
variety	O
of	O
research	O
publications	O
,	O
all	O
aimed	O
at	O
improving	O
image	B-General_Concept
analysis	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Slicer	O
's	O
platform	O
provides	O
functionalities	O
for	O
segmentation	B-Algorithm
,	O
registration	O
and	O
three-dimensional	O
visualization	O
of	O
multimodal	O
image	O
data	O
,	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
advanced	O
image	B-General_Concept
analysis	I-General_Concept
algorithms	O
for	O
diffusion	B-Algorithm
tensor	I-Algorithm
imaging	I-Algorithm
,	O
functional	O
magnetic	O
resonance	O
imaging	O
and	O
image-guided	O
radiation	O
therapy	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
addition	O
to	O
producing	O
3D	O
models	O
from	O
conventional	O
MRI	O
images	O
,	O
Slicer	O
has	O
also	O
been	O
used	O
to	O
present	O
information	O
derived	O
from	O
fMRI	O
(	O
using	O
MRI	O
to	O
assess	O
blood	O
flow	O
in	O
the	O
brain	O
related	O
to	O
neural	O
or	O
spinal	O
cord	O
activity	O
)	O
,	O
DTI	O
(	O
using	O
MRI	O
to	O
measure	O
the	O
restricted	O
diffusion	O
of	O
water	O
in	O
imaged	O
tissue	O
)	O
,	O
and	O
electrocardiography	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
is	O
an	O
active	O
community	O
at	O
Slicer	O
's	O
Discourse	B-Protocol
server	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Slicer	O
development	O
is	O
coordinated	O
on	O
the	O
Slicer	O
Discourse	B-Protocol
forum	O
,	O
and	O
a	O
summary	O
of	O
development	O
statistics	O
is	O
available	O
on	O
Ohloh	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
3D	B-Application
Slicer	I-Application
is	O
built	O
on	O
VTK	B-Language
,	O
a	O
pipeline-based	O
graphical	O
library	O
that	O
is	O
widely	O
used	O
in	O
scientific	B-Application
visualization	I-Application
and	O
ITK	B-Language
,	O
a	O
framework	O
widely	O
used	O
for	O
the	O
development	O
of	O
image	B-Algorithm
segmentation	I-Algorithm
and	O
image	B-Algorithm
registration	I-Algorithm
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
version	O
4	O
,	O
the	O
core	O
application	O
is	O
implemented	O
in	O
C++	B-Language
,	O
and	O
the	O
API	O
is	O
available	O
through	O
a	O
Python	B-Language
wrapper	O
to	O
facilitate	O
rapid	O
,	O
iterative	O
development	O
and	O
visualization	O
in	O
the	O
included	O
Python	B-Language
console	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
user	O
interface	O
is	O
implemented	O
in	O
Qt	B-Language
,	O
and	O
may	O
be	O
extended	O
using	O
either	O
C++	B-Language
or	O
Python	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Fully	O
interactive	O
,	O
custom	O
interfaces	O
may	O
be	O
written	O
in	O
C++	B-Language
or	O
Python	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Command-line	O
programs	O
in	O
any	O
language	O
may	O
be	O
wrapped	O
using	O
a	O
light-weight	O
XML	B-Protocol
specification	I-Protocol
,	O
from	O
which	O
a	O
graphical	B-Application
interface	I-Application
is	O
automatically	O
generated	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
mechanism	O
facilitates	O
the	O
incorporation	O
of	O
code	O
with	O
different	O
license	O
requirements	O
from	O
the	O
permissive	O
BSD-style	B-Operating_System
license	I-Operating_System
used	O
for	O
the	O
Slicer	O
core	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Slicer	O
build	O
process	O
utilizes	O
CMake	B-Language
to	O
automatically	O
build	O
prerequisite	O
and	O
optional	O
libraries	O
(	O
excluding	O
Qt	B-Language
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Slicer	O
's	O
development	O
is	O
managed	O
primarily	O
through	O
its	O
GitHub	B-Application
repository	O
.	O
</s>
