int im_analyze2vips( const char *filename, IMAGE *out )
It reads the old-style 7.5 format, where the header and the image data are stored in separate files. You can give the name of either the header (for example, "fred.hdr") the image data (for example, "fred.img"), or neither (eg. "fred").
The fields in the Analyze header appear in the VIPS header with a "dsr-" prefix. So the Analyze field "patient_id", which is part of data_history, may be retrieved with
im_header_string
"dsr-data_history.patient_id" fred.v