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The Visible Human Project: The Data & How to Get It

The initial aim of the Visible Human Project is to create a digital image data set of a complete human male and female cadaver in MRI, CT and anatomical modes.

The male data set consists of axial MRI images of the head and neck taken at 4 mm intervals and longitudinal sections of the rest of the body also at 4 mm intervals. The MRI images are 256 pixel by 256 pixel resolution. Each pixel has 12 bits of grey tone resolution.

The CT data consists of axial CT scans of the entire body taken at 1 mm intervals at a resolution of 512 pixels by 512 pixels where each pixel is made up of 12 bits of grey tone. The axial anatomical images are 2048 pixels by 1216 pixels where each pixel is defined by 24 bits of color, about 7.5 megabytes. The anatomical cross-sections are also at 1 mm intervals and coincide with the CT axial images. There are 1871 cross-sections for each mode, CT and anatomy, obtained from the male cadaver.

The data set from the female cadaver will have the same characteristics as the male cadaver with one exception. The axial anatomical images will be obtained at 0.33 mm intervals instead of 1.0 mm intervals. This will result in over 5,000 anatomical images. The data set is expected to be about 40 gigabytes in size. Distribution is anticipated during the fall of 1995. We are decreasing the spacing in the "Z" direction to 0.33 mm in order to match the pixel spacing in the "XY" plane which is 0.33 mm. This will enable developers who are interested in three-dimensional reconstructions to work with cubic voxels.

The License Agreement for use of the male Visible Human Project data set is now available, both as a text file and as a WordPerfect file. Please make two copies of the agreement and have both copies signed as originals by your appropriate officials. The agreement requires that you include a statement explaining your intended use of the data set. Send both signed copies of the agreement and the statement of how you intend to use the data set to me at:

Dr. Michael J. Ackerman
Visible Human Project
National Library of Medicine
8600 Rockville Pike
Bethesda, MD 20894
We will have the agreement signed here at NLM and one of the originals will be returned to you. At that time you will be sent your account and password to the Visible Human Project FTP site if you wish to download all or part of the data set via the internet and information on where you may purchase the data set on 8 mm Exabyte or 4 mm DAT tape. The data set will be distributed from the FTP site and on tape in a Z-compressed UNIX TAR format. There are 6 tapes of anatomical images corresponding to 6 body regions: head, thorax, abdomen, pelvis, thighs, and feet. A 7th tape contains all the MRI and CT images. Each tape costs $150 in the US, Canada and Mexico, $300 elsewhere. An 8th, "sample", tape which contains anatomical images from the entire body at 1 cm increments is also available. The set of 8 tapes costs $1,000 in the US, Canada and Mexico, $2,000 elsewhere.

Sample full scale images are available via the NLMPubs FTP site, including:

Your continued interest in NLM's Visible Human Project is greatly appreciated.

Michael J. Ackerman, Ph.D.
Project Officer
ackerman@hpcc.gov

NLM HyperDOC / Visible Human Data / February 1995