diff --git a/PyNutil/io/read_and_write.py b/PyNutil/io/read_and_write.py
index 0487e0bf7b55a23d607b27fdf2a9b5161212e8aa..2389eaa62ba086accbc07ce39638fff4d75b582e 100644
--- a/PyNutil/io/read_and_write.py
+++ b/PyNutil/io/read_and_write.py
@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@ def load_segmentation(segmentation_path: str):
 
 # related to read and write
 # this function reads a VisuAlign JSON and returns the slices
-def load_quint_json(filename):
+def load_quint_json(filename, propagate_missing_values=True):
     """
     Reads a VisuAlign JSON file (.waln or .wwrp) and extracts slice information.
     Slices may include anchoring, grid spacing, and other image metadata.
@@ -213,7 +213,7 @@ def load_quint_json(filename):
 
     else:
         slices = vafile["slices"]
-    if len(slices) > 1:
+    if (len(slices) > 1) & propagate_missing_values:
         slices = propagate(slices)
     vafile["slices"] = slices
     return vafile