# Visualizing MRI data taken over time and taking cross sections

**URL:** <https://discourse.slicer.org/t/visualizing-mri-data-taken-over-time-and-taking-cross-sections/18372>\
**Category:** Support\
**Tags:** dicom\
**Created:** [June 28, 2021, 3:02pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/visualizing-mri-data-taken-over-time-and-taking-cross-sections/18372 "2021-06-28T15:02:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dsoto](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/dsoto/32/11410_2.png) [@dsoto](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/dsoto)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 3:02pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/visualizing-mri-data-taken-over-time-and-taking-cross-sections/18372/1 "2021-06-28T15:02:43Z")

</div>

Hello all,

I’m new to using Slicer and have run into a couple issues regarding displaying MRI data. So I have multiple datasets I am working with, some of which are anatomical, taking cross sections over different sagittal planes. These frames display very readily in 3D Slicer, and I have had not issue with them. My issue arises when I attempt to display MRI data in the same plane, that has been taken over time. I tend to get a rhombus-shaped cross section that slides from left to right for a single time-point. See the attachment for an example. How can I have Slicer display the entire 300-frame set?  
 ![cross section MRI](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/slicer/original/3X/2/8/288ef84d3a41ffef0d1ed090cb2bbe8265ebe2de.png)

ALSO, in the past I have used ImageJ for these analyses, but learned about Slicer and was hoping it had some capabilities I need for research. The first is, I want to determine changes in a very specific area of an MRI over time. Specifically, I want to draw a line through an organ and have it take the same line from all 300 frames in a data set and display them side-by-side. Is anything like that possible?

Thank you in advance!

Best,  
D

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![lassoan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/lassoan/32/13_2.png) [@lassoan](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/lassoan)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 3:08pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/visualizing-mri-data-taken-over-time-and-taking-cross-sections/18372/2 "2021-06-28T15:08:44Z")

</div>

> [@dsoto](#):
>
> These frames display very readily in 3D Slicer, and I have had not issue with them. My issue arises when I attempt to display MRI data in the same plane, that has been taken over time. I tend to get a rhombus-shaped cross section that slides from left to right for a single time-point. See the attachment for an example. How can I have Slicer display the entire 300-frame set?

In Slicer-4.11 and earlier, slice views are aligned to anatomical axes by default and you need to click [“Rotate to volume plane” button](https://slicer.readthedocs.io/en/latest/user_guide/user_interface.html#slice-view) to make it snap to the image slice’s orientation. In Slicer-4.13 (recent Slicer Preview Releases), when you click on the eye icon of a volume in Data module, the slice view is rotated to the image plane by default. You can also [drag-and-drop a volume into a slice view](https://slicer.readthedocs.io/en/latest/user_guide/user_interface.html#selecting-displayed-data) to make that volume show up in that view, with the slice view orientation aligned with the image axis.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dsoto](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/dsoto/32/11410_2.png) [@dsoto](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/dsoto)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 3:20pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/visualizing-mri-data-taken-over-time-and-taking-cross-sections/18372/3 "2021-06-28T15:20:43Z")

</div>

Thank you, Dr. Lasso, much appreciated!