Addons - YarraLink

 Introduction

Installing or copying executables on the host computer of Siemens MR systems is officially not permitted by Siemens Healthcare. Therefore, installing the Yarra Client Package on the host computer of a Siemens MR system is at the user’s own risk.

As a “legally safe” alternative, it is possible to use the YarraLink sequence, which is a pseudo-sequence written in the Siemens IDEA framework that, instead of performing an MRI scan, opens the Yarra ORT client. This circumvents having to install an “application executable” on the system. Using the YarraLink sequence also provides certain workflow advantages. When adding the YarraLink sequence as last step to exam programs containing sequence protocols that require offline reconstruction, the Yarra ORT client will automatically open on the scanner’s user interface once the last scan has been acquired. This eliminates the potential risk that the operator of the MR system forgets to submit a scan for offline reconstruction at the end of an exam.

 Usage

The following preparation steps are needed once before the YarraLink sequence can be used on the MR system:

1. Install the YarraLink sequences binaries in the folder C:\MedCom\MriCustomer\seq (see section Compilation below).

2. Open the Exam Explorer and navigate to the exam program where you want to add the Yarra offline-reconstruction transfer.

3. Right-click on “Insert Sequence”, select “USER” in the top “Folder” selection box, then select “yarralink” from the Sequences list. The YarraLink sequence should normally placed at the end of the exam program.

4. Right-click on the inserted “YarraLink” protocol, select “Properties”, open the “Execution”, and select “Execute without further preparation”. It might make sense to give the YarraLink sequence a more meaningful name, such as “## Offline Reconstruction Transfer ##”

5. Save the modified exam program.

When the exam program is executed during a patient examination, the Yarra ORT client will automatically open in the moment when the YarraLink sequence step is reached. Usage of the client is identical to the description provided in the ORT documentation. During the first start of the client, the configuration dialog will appear.

As for any Siemens IDEA sequence, the MR system will run a number of adjustment steps prior to execution of the sequence (frequency adjustment, etc). If no patient or water phantom is positioned in the magnet, the adjustment procedure will fail and the YarraLink sequence will not be executed. In this case, it is possible to manually open the Yarra ORT client by opening the sequence parameter UI, selecting the Sequence/Special card and clicking on the checkbox labeled “Click to open »>”.

 Compilation

Due to legal reasons, we cannot provide compiled binaries of the YarraLink sequence publicly on the internet. There are two options to obtain the YarraLink binaries:

1. Contact your local Siemens collaboration manager and ask him to prepare a C2P agreement. When a C2P agreement has been signed, we can provide a download link for the compiled sequence binaries.

2. Download the YarraLink source code and compile it with your local Siemens IDEA installation.

For the latter option, the YarraLink source code can be accessed using this link, which compiles under the software versions VB17A, VB20P, VD13A/C/D, VE11A. The following steps are needed to compile the sequence:

1. Open the IDEA sequence shell, navigate to the folder \n4\pkg\MrServers\MrImaging\seq.

2. Create a folder called a_yarra and extract the source code into the folder.

3. Open the two makefiles yarralink.mk and makefile.trs with a text editor.

4. Uncomment/Comment the compiler switches depending on the version of the Siemens SyngoMR version in both make files by adding/removing the # character at the start of the line. For example, for version VE11A the section in file yarralink.mk should read:

#************************************************************************
# Define the software version
#************************************************************************
#CPPFLAGS_LOCAL += -DVER_VB
#CPPFLAGS_LOCAL += -DVER_VB20
#CPPFLAGS_LOCAL += -DVER_VD
CPPFLAGS_LOCAL += -DVER_VE

5. In addition, it is necessary to comment-out several link libraries for VE11A. Follow the instructions given in the make files.
6. Compile the sequence using the normal IDEA make sequence command.
7. Install the sequence binaries on the MR system in the folder C:\MedCom\MriCustomer\seq Copy the YarraLink dll package into the subfolder C:\MedCom\MriCustomer\seq\yarra. The YarraLink dll package can be obtained from the Download page.