====== dcm2nii (import DICOM images using SPM's DICOM Import) ======

===== Motivation =====
Neuroimaging data is usually acquired in a format unsuitable for data processing (e.g. missing or incomplete support for data manipulation in existing files), such as DICOM or PAR/REC (Philips proprietary). SPM comes with an import function for this, and the dcm2nii function collects the required information and passes it on to the SPM Job manager.

===== Requirements =====
To be able to use this function you must have

  * a working installation of SPM5 or SPM8 on the path
  * a single folder containing the DICOM images to be imported as one scan
  * an existing target folder to receive the imported/converted images

===== Function reference ('help dcm2nii') =====
<file>  dcm2nii  - convert DICOM to NII files
 
  FORMAT:       dcm2nii(source, target, opts)
 
  Input fields:
 
        source      source folder containing DICOM files
        target      target folder
        opts        optional settings
         .dcmpat    DICOM file pattern, default: '*.dcm'
         .format    either {'img'} or 'nii'
 
  No output fields.</file>

===== Usage notes =====
In case you have multiple sessions of data in the source folder, these files must have a unique filename pattern per session, so that by re-setting the ''.dcmpat'' field you can selectively choose which files to import!

===== Usage example =====
This code imports the DICOM files contained in one folder into a different folder:

<code matlab dcm2nii_ex.m>% import DICOM images
% - from /Data/Study/Subjects/s04/func/raw/192_r1
% - into /Data/Study/Subjects/s04/func/prepro/r01_192
% - save resulting images as .nii files
dcm2nii( ...
    '/Data/Study/Subjects/s04/func/raw/192_r1', ...
    '/Data/Study/Subjects/s04/func/prepro/r01_192', ...
    struct('format', 'nii'));</code>