Introduction
Texture analysis is gaining considerable interest in medical imaging, particularly for identifying parameters that characterize tumor heterogeneity. We developed easy-to-use freeware that enables the calculation of a wide range of conventional, texture, and shape indices from PET, MRI, ultrasound, and CT images.
The software is written in Java and does not rely on any commercial libraries. LIFEx is designed for researchers, radiologists, nuclear medicine physicians, and oncologists, providing access to 311 histogram, texture, and shape indices in addition to conventional metrics. Users can customise calculation settings, such as the resampling method and the number of gray levels used for texture analysis.
Features
LIFEx reads DICOM images locally or over a network using a DICOM browser, is compatible with Osirix and includes a powerful 3D reconstruction-based slice viewer. Volumes of interest (VOI) can be either imported from previously created files or drawn and manipulated using LIFEx. Results are exported in Excel format files. LIFEx runs on Windows, MacOs and Linux. It is distributed with examples and includes a tutorial. User support is available. Users can optionally contribute to the gathering of index values measured in different tissue types and different images as a public data bank of reference values is currently being built and integrated in the software for assisting the users with the interpretation of their results.
LIFEx reads DICOM images locally or over a network via a DICOM browser, is compatible with OsiriX, and includes a powerful 3D reconstruction–based slice viewer. Volumes of interest (VOIs) can be imported from existing files or drawn and edited directly in LIFEx. Results can be exported to Excel-compatible files.
LIFEx runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux. It ships with example datasets and a tutorial, and user support is available. Users may optionally contribute index values measured in different tissue types and imaging modalities; a public reference databank is being built and integrated into the software to assist with result interpretation.
Flyer / Documentation
Getting Started
You can download the LIFEx software for free after creating an account and receiving account verification (typically within one business day).
Once your account is verified, download the installer for your operating system from the download section and follow the provided instructions.
Reference
LIFEx, RRID:SCR_025284
v25.6.1 ; IDDN1 .FR2 .0013 .0400264 .0035 .S6 .P7 .20248 .0009 .2100010, date 2025/06/20
v7.6.0 ; IDDN .FR .001 .040026 .001 .S .P .2024 .000 .21000, date 2024/04/19
v7.4.0 ; IDDN .FR .001 .040026 .000 .S .P .2024 .000 .2100, date 2024/01/26