TCIA metadata
Metadata is data that describes other data. On this page, we've detailed th metadata that are available for viewing and filtering the The Cancer Imaging Archive (TCIA) data in the Data Browser on the Platform. The TCIA data available on the Platform are Open Access radiological imaging data generated from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA).
TCIA metadata on the Platform consist of entities and their properties.
Entities are particular resources with UUIDs, such as files, cases, samples, and cell lines.
Properties can either describe an entity or relate that entity to another entity. For instance, properties include an entity's vital status, gender, data format, or experimental strategy.
Entities for TCIA include:
- investigation
- case
- file
- study
Below, each of these entities is followed by a table of their related properties.
Investigation
The investigation entity represents the project or study that generated the data. Members of the investigation entity can be identified by a Universally Unique Identifier (UUID). Find the properties of the investigation entity below.
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| Disease type | The type of the disease or condition studied. See NCI Thesaurus Code: C2991. |
Case
The case entity represents a patient. Members of the case entity are subjects who have taken part in an investigation or program and can be identified by a Universally Unique Identifier (UUID). See the table below for the clinical properties and descriptions of the case entity.
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| Submitter ID | Usually a human-readable identifier, such as a number or a string that may contain metadata information. In some instances, this can also be a UUID. |
| Gender | The collection of behaviors and attitudes that distinguish people on the basis of the societal roles expected for the two sexes. See NCI Thesaurus Code: C17357. |
| Age at diagnosis | The age in years of the case at the initial pathological diagnosis of disease or cancer. See NCI Thesaurus Code: C15220. |
File
The file entity refers to the files in TCIA. Members of the file entity can be identified by a Universally Unique Identifier (UUID). Find the properties of the file entity below.
| Property of File | Description |
|---|---|
| Submitter ID | Usually a human-readable identifier, such as a number or a string that may contain metadata information. In some instances, this can also be a UUID. |
| File type | The type of file which stores the data. |
| Data format | The format of the data. |
| Access level | A Boolean value indicating Controlled Data or Open Data. Controlled Data is data from public datasets that has limitations on use and requires approval by dbGaP. Open Data is data from public datasets that doesn't have limitations on its usage within the Platform. |
| Data category | The classification of data used in the analysis, based on its form and content. In TCIA dataset it always has a value ‘Imaging’. |
| Series date | The date the Series started. |
| Series number | A number that identifies this Series. |
| Series instance UUID | Unique identifier of a Series that is part of this Study. |
| Series description | User provided description of the Series. |
| Image count | Computed number of images in this series. |
| Software version | Manufacturer's designation of the software version of the equipment that produced the composite instances. |
| Manufacturer | Name of the manufacturer of the equipment that produced the composite images. |
| Modality | Type of equipment that originally acquired the data. |
| Protocol name | User-defined description of the conditions under which the Series was performed. |
| Manufacturer model name | Manufacturer's model name of the equipment that produced the composite images. |
| Body part examined | Text description of the part of the body examined. |
Study
The study entity represents a set of images collected for a specific trial or other reason. Members of the study entity can be identified by a Universally Unique Identifier (UUID). Find the properties of the study entity below.
| ID | Usually a human-readable identifier, such as a number or a string that may contain metadata information. In some instances, this can also be a UUID. |
| Study date | The date the Study started. |
| Study description | The institution-generated description or classification of the Study (component) performed. |
| Series count | The computed number of series. |
Updated about 1 year ago