diff --git a/docs/source/data.rst b/docs/source/data.rst
index c528deeacc..0ab64edb7b 100644
--- a/docs/source/data.rst
+++ b/docs/source/data.rst
@@ -200,6 +200,8 @@ DatasetSummary
 Decathlon Datalist
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 .. autofunction:: monai.data.load_decathlon_datalist
+.. autofunction:: monai.data.load_decathlon_properties
+.. autofunction:: monai.data.check_missing_files
 
 
 DataLoader
diff --git a/monai/data/__init__.py b/monai/data/__init__.py
index df436ba667..fafe282358 100644
--- a/monai/data/__init__.py
+++ b/monai/data/__init__.py
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
     ZipDataset,
 )
 from .dataset_summary import DatasetSummary
-from .decathlon_datalist import load_decathlon_datalist, load_decathlon_properties
+from .decathlon_datalist import check_missing_files, load_decathlon_datalist, load_decathlon_properties
 from .grid_dataset import GridPatchDataset, PatchDataset, PatchIter
 from .image_dataset import ImageDataset
 from .image_reader import ImageReader, ITKReader, NibabelReader, NumpyReader, PILReader, WSIReader
diff --git a/monai/data/decathlon_datalist.py b/monai/data/decathlon_datalist.py
index 78440fe11c..40f51f0e75 100644
--- a/monai/data/decathlon_datalist.py
+++ b/monai/data/decathlon_datalist.py
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 import os
 from typing import Dict, List, Optional, Sequence, Union, overload
 
+from monai.config import KeysCollection
 from monai.utils import ensure_tuple
 
 
@@ -148,3 +149,40 @@ def load_decathlon_properties(data_property_file_path: str, property_keys: Union
             raise KeyError(f"key {key} is not in the data property file.")
         properties[key] = json_data[key]
     return properties
+
+
+def check_missing_files(
+    datalist: List[Dict], keys: KeysCollection, root_dir: Optional[str] = None, allow_missing_keys: bool = False
+):
+    """Checks whether some files in the Decathlon datalist are missing.
+    It would be helpful to check missing files before a heavy training run.
+
+    Args:
+        datalist: a list of data items, every item is a dictionary.
+            ususally generated by `load_decathlon_datalist` API.
+        keys: expected keys to check in the datalist.
+        root_dir: if not None, provides the root dir for the relative file paths in `datalist`.
+        allow_missing_keys: whether allow missing keys in the datalist items.
+            if False, raise exception if missing. default to False.
+
+    Returns:
+        A list of missing filenames.
+
+    """
+    missing_files = []
+    for item in datalist:
+        for k in ensure_tuple(keys):
+            if k not in item:
+                if not allow_missing_keys:
+                    raise ValueError(f"key `{k}` is missing in the datalist item: {item}")
+                continue
+
+            for f in ensure_tuple(item[k]):
+                if not isinstance(f, str):
+                    raise ValueError(f"filepath of key `{k}` must be a string or a list of strings, but got: {f}.")
+                if isinstance(root_dir, str):
+                    f = os.path.join(root_dir, f)
+                if not os.path.exists(f):
+                    missing_files.append(f)
+
+    return missing_files
diff --git a/monai/data/image_reader.py b/monai/data/image_reader.py
index 622a4865d1..bf8fe39ec6 100644
--- a/monai/data/image_reader.py
+++ b/monai/data/image_reader.py
@@ -627,6 +627,8 @@ def get_data(self, img):
         It computes `spatial_shape` and stores it in meta dict.
         When loading a list of files, they are stacked together at a new dimension as the first dimension,
         and the meta data of the first image is used to represent the output meta data.
+        Note that it will switch axis 0 and 1 after loading the array because the `HW` definition in PIL
+        is different from other common medical packages.
 
         Args:
             img: a PIL Image object loaded from a file or a list of PIL Image objects.
diff --git a/tests/min_tests.py b/tests/min_tests.py
index ed48f6986f..05bd6781c1 100644
--- a/tests/min_tests.py
+++ b/tests/min_tests.py
@@ -147,6 +147,7 @@ def run_testsuit():
         "test_handler_mlflow",
         "test_prepare_batch_extra_input",
         "test_prepare_batch_default",
+        "test_check_missing_files",
     ]
     assert sorted(exclude_cases) == sorted(set(exclude_cases)), f"Duplicated items in {exclude_cases}"
 
diff --git a/tests/test_check_missing_files.py b/tests/test_check_missing_files.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ff7a43b3c6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_check_missing_files.py
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+# Copyright 2020 - 2021 MONAI Consortium
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+import os
+import tempfile
+import unittest
+
+import nibabel as nib
+import numpy as np
+
+from monai.data import check_missing_files
+
+
+class TestCheckMissingFiles(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_content(self):
+        test_image = nib.Nifti1Image(np.random.randint(0, 2, size=[128, 128, 128]), np.eye(4))
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tempdir:
+            nib.save(test_image, os.path.join(tempdir, "test_image1.nii.gz"))
+            nib.save(test_image, os.path.join(tempdir, "test_label1.nii.gz"))
+            nib.save(test_image, os.path.join(tempdir, "test_extra1.nii.gz"))
+            nib.save(test_image, os.path.join(tempdir, "test_image2.nii.gz"))
+
+            datalist = [
+                {
+                    "image": os.path.join(tempdir, "test_image1.nii.gz"),
+                    "label": [os.path.join(tempdir, "test_label1.nii.gz"), os.path.join(tempdir, "test_extra1.nii.gz")],
+                },
+                {
+                    "image": os.path.join(tempdir, "test_image2.nii.gz"),
+                    "label": os.path.join(tempdir, "test_label_missing.nii.gz"),
+                },
+            ]
+
+            missings = check_missing_files(datalist=datalist, keys=["image", "label"])
+            self.assertEqual(len(missings), 1)
+            self.assertEqual(missings[0], os.path.join(tempdir, "test_label_missing.nii.gz"))
+
+            # test with missing key and relative path
+            datalist = [{"image": "test_image1.nii.gz", "label": "test_label_missing.nii.gz"}]
+            missings = check_missing_files(
+                datalist=datalist, keys=["image", "label", "test"], root_dir=tempdir, allow_missing_keys=True
+            )
+            self.assertEqual(missings[0], os.path.join(tempdir, "test_label_missing.nii.gz"))
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    unittest.main()