Classification-based summation of cerebral digital subtraction angiography series for image post-processing algorithms

X-ray-based 2D digital subtraction angiography (DSA) plays a major role in the diagnosis, treatment planning and assessment of cerebrovascular disease, i.e. aneurysms, arteriovenous malformations and intracranial stenosis. DSA information is increasingly used for secondary image post-processing such as vessel segmentation, registration and comparison to hemodynamic calculation using computational fluid dynamics. Depending on the amount of injected contrast agent and the duration of injection, these DSA series may not exhibit one single DSA image showing the entire vessel tree. The interesting information for these algorithms, however, is usually depicted within a few images. If these images would be combined into one image the complexity of segmentation or registration methods using DSA series would drastically decrease. In this paper, we propose a novel method automatically splitting a DSA series into three parts, i.e. mask, arterial and parenchymal phase, to provide one final image showing all important vessels with less noise and moving artifacts. This final image covers all arterial phase images, either by image summation or by taking the minimum intensities. The phase classification is done by a two-step approach. The mask/arterial phase border is determined by a Perceptron-based method trained from a set of DSA series. The arterial/parenchymal phase border is specified by a threshold-based method. The evaluation of the proposed method is two-sided: (1) comparison between automatic and medical expert-based phase selection and (2) the quality of the final image is measured by gradient magnitudes inside the vessels and signal-to-noise (SNR) outside. Experimental results show a match between expert and automatic phase separation of 93%/50% and an average SNR increase of up to 182% compared to summing up the entire series.     

Adaptive Voxel Matching for Temporal CT Subtraction

Temporal subtraction (TS) technique calculates a subtraction image between a pair of registered images acquired from the same patient at different times. Previous studies have shown that TS is effective for visualizing pathological changes over time; therefore, TS should be a useful tool for radiologists. However, artifacts caused by partial volume effects degrade the quality of thick-slice subtraction images, even with accurate image registration. Here, we propose a subtraction method for reducing artifacts in thick-slice images and discuss its implementation in high-speed processing. The proposed method is based on voxel matching, which reduces artifacts by considering gaps in discretized positions of two images in subtraction calculations. There are two different features between the proposed method and conventional voxel matching: (1) the size of a searching region to reduce artifacts is determined based on discretized position gaps between images and (2) the searching region is set on both images for symmetrical subtraction. The proposed method is implemented by adopting an accelerated subtraction calculation method that exploit the nature of liner interpolation for calculating the signal value at a point among discretized positions. We quantitatively evaluated the proposed method using synthetic data and qualitatively using clinical data interpreted by radiologists. The evaluation showed that the proposed method was superior to conventional methods. Moreover, the processing speed using the proposed method was almost unchanged from that of the conventional methods. The results indicate that the proposed method can improve the quality of subtraction images acquired from thick-slice images.     

基于数字血管减影的无框架配准算法的实验研究

我们在无框架立体定位算法的基础上,进行了脑部多模医学图像配准的临床实验研究。实验证明,本配准算法能准确地将数字血管减影(Digital subtraction angiography,DSA)图像中的血管信息融合进计算机体层成像(Computed tomography,CT)的解剖结构中,三维显示后方便医生进行诊断和手术计划,对于计算机辅助外科手术研究具有重要的临床医学价值。     

基于血管匹配的三维超声与CT图像的配准方法

提出一种基于血管匹配的三维超声与CT图像配准的新方法.首先,基于水平集方法自动分割出CT图像中的血管；其次,由于超声图像中的声影与血管均属于低回声区域,我们结合声影形成的物理原理及图像纹理特性,自动检测出声影区域,以提高配准的鲁棒性；最后,采用进化算法,将CT图像中分割出的血管与超声图像中低回声区域进行匹配.在肝脏体模和临床脾脏数据上进行了实验验证,自动配准的成功率在95％以上,平均目标配准误差在2 mm以内,实验结果验证了本方法的可行性.     

A rigidity penalty term for nonrigid registration

Medical images that are to be registered for clinical application often contain both structures that deform and ones that remain rigid. Nonrigid registration algorithms that do not model properties of different tissue types may result in deformations of rigid structures. In this article a local rigidity penalty term is proposed which is included in the registration function in order to penalize the deformation of rigid objects. This term can be used for any representation of the deformation field capable of modelling locally rigid transformations. By using a B-spline representation of the deformation field, a fast algorithm can be devised. The proposed method is compared with an unconstrained nonrigid registration algorithm. It is evaluated on clinical three-dimensional CT follow-up data of the thorax and on two-dimensional DSA image sequences. The results show that nonrigid registration using the proposed rigidity penalty term is capable of nonrigidly aligning images, while keeping user-defined structures locally rigid.     

Motion correction for three-dimensional chemical exchange saturation transfer imaging without direct water saturation artifacts

In chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) MRI, motion correction is compromised by the drastically changing image contrast at different frequency offsets, particularly at the direct water saturation. In this study, a simple extension for conventional image registration algorithms is proposed, enabling robust and accurate motion correction of CEST-MRI data. The proposed method uses weighted averaging of motion parameters from a conventional rigid image registration to identify and mitigate erroneously misaligned images. Functionality of the proposed method was verified by ground truth datasets generated from 10 three-dimensional in vivo measurements at 3 T with simulated realistic random rigid motion patterns and noise. Performance was assessed using two different criteria: the maximum image misalignment as a measure for the robustness against direct water saturation artifacts, and the spectral error as a measure of the overall accuracy. For both criteria, the proposed method achieved the best scores compared with two motion-correction algorithms specifically developed to handle the varying contrasts in CEST-MRI. Compared with a straightforward linear interpolation of the motion parameters at frequency offsets close to the direct water saturation, the proposed method offers better performance in the absence of artifacts. The proposed method for motion correction in CEST-MRI allows identification and mitigation of direct water saturation artifacts that occur with conventional image registration algorithms. The resulting improved robustness and accuracy enable reliable motion correction, which is particularly crucial for an automated and carefree evaluation of spectral CEST-MRI data, e.g., for large patient cohorts or in clinical routines.     

Robust image registration for functional magnetic resonance imaging of the brain

Motion-related artifacts are still a major problem in data analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) studies of brain activation. However, the traditional image registration algorithm is prone to inaccuracy when there are residual variations owing to counting statistics, partial volume effects or biological variation. In particular, susceptibility artifacts usually result in remarkable signal intensity variance, and they can mislead the estimation of motion parameters. In this study, Two robust estimation algorithms for the registration of FMRI images are described. The first estimation algorithm was based on the Newton method and used Tukey's biweight objective function. The second estimation algorithm was based on the Levenberg-Marquardt technique and used a skipped mean objective function. The robust M-estimators can suppress the effects of the outliers by scaling down their error magnitudes or completely rejecting outliers using a weighting function. The proposed registration methods consisted of the following steps: fast segmentation of the brain region from noisy background as a preprocessing step; pre-registration of the volume centroids to provide a good initial estimation; and two robust estimation algorithms and a voxel sampling technique to find the affine transformation parameters. The accuracy of the algorithms was within 0.5 mm in translation and within 0.5° in rotation. For the FMRI data sets, the performance of the algorithms was visually compared with the AIR 2.0 software, which is a software for image registration, using colour-coded statistical mapping by the Kolmogorov-Smirov method. Experimental results showed, that the algorithms provided significant improvement in correcting motion-related artifacts and can enhance the detection of real brain activation.     

Temporal subtraction in chest radiography: automated assessment of registration accuracy

Radiologists routinely compare multiple chest radiographs acquired from the same patient over time to more completely understand changes in anatomy and pathology. While such comparisons are achieved conventionally through a side-by-side display of images, image registration techniques have been developed to combine information from two separate radiographic images through construction of a "temporal subtraction image." Although temporal subtraction images provide a powerful mechanism for the enhanced visualization of subtle change, errors in the clinical evaluation of these images may arise from misregistration artifacts that can mimic or obscure pathologic change. We have developed a computerized method for the automated assessment of registration accuracy as demonstrated in temporal subtraction images created from radiographic chest image pairs. The registration accuracy of 150 temporal subtraction images constructed from the computed radiography images of 72 patients was rated manually using a five-point scale ranging from "5-excellent" to "1-poor;" ratings of 3, 4, or 5 reflected clinically acceptable subtraction images, and ratings of 1 or 2 reflected clinically unacceptable images. Gray-level histogram-based features and texture measures are computed at multiple spatial scales within a "lung mask" region that encompasses both lungs in the temporal subtraction images. A subset of these features is merged through a linear discriminant classifier. With a leave-one-out-by-patient training/testing paradigm, the automated method attained an A(z) value of 0.92 in distinguishing between temporal subtraction images that demonstrated clinically acceptable and clinically unacceptable registration accuracy. A second linear discriminant classifier yielded an A(z) value of 0.82 based on a feature subset selected from an independent database of digitized film images. These methods are expected to advance the clinical utility of temporal subtraction images for chest radiography.     

基于互信息量图像配准中目标函数局部极值的克服

图像配准技术在医学图像处理领域中已经被广泛应用,基于互信息量的全局图像配准方法具有自动化程度高,配准精度高等优点。但是,当平移距离为像素的整数倍时,插值等法会引入伪影,使目标函数产生局部极值,使得最优化搜索有时会终止于局部极值,得到错误的配准参数。本文提出了一种克服的方法,经检验,能使目标函数进一步光滑,保证了最优化搜索的准确性,提高了互信息量方法配准的成功率。     

A study on medical image registration by mutual information with pyramid data structure

The registration method based on mutual information is currently a popular technique for medical image registration, but the computation of the mutual information is complex and the registration speed is slow. In this work, a new slice accumulation pyramid (SAP) data structure was proposed to expedite the registration process. A numerical comparative study between the new data structure and the existing wavelet pyramid (WP) data structure was given, and the results confirmed that the new pyramid data structure was superior to the WP in both the calculation efficiency and the optimizing performance. Finally, SAP was applied to remove the artifacts between CT and MRI data sets, and the results showed the validation of SAP to registration of mulmodality images.     

一种病变眼底图像的配准方法

对于具有病变的眼底图像,血管结构不够清晰,采用基于血管分割和血管分支点、交叉点等眼底图像配准方法具有一定的局限性。为了解决这个问题,提出一种基于不变特征的眼底图像配准方法。提取眼底图像的尺度不变特征(SIFT)作为特征点,提出双边或的Best-Bin-First(BBF)算法进行特征点匹配,并根据特征点具有旋转不变性的方向特征和空间斜率及空间距离等几何特性的一致性检测去除误匹配,精化匹配特征,利用得到的匹配特征进行M估计得到眼底图像的变换关系。通过对不同程度病变的眼底图像数据进行配准实验,观察配准结果,对比匹配特征的正确匹配数量和分析衡量配准精度的均方根误差。结果表明,该方法实现了良好的细节对齐,保留了足够的正确匹配对,对实验的病变眼底图像配准成功后的均方根误差均小于1,且浮动于0.5左右,验证了方法的精确性和有效性。     

排除模板迭代算法在数字减影血管造影中的应用

本文基于ＤＳＡ图象中由于选影剂的影响存在灰度差别的特点，提出了一种新的匹配算法－－排除板迭代算法，成功地实现了ＤＳＡ图象中的运动伪象和灰度伪象的校正。在我们的算法中利用排除模板将存在显著灰度差别的ＤＳＡ序列图像转换为可以 利用古典匹配算法的序列图象，而且在用排除模板进行匹配的过程中，逐次迭代，直至最佳匹配状态。整个算法实现了全自动，且匹配速度快，搜索范围大，精度可达１个象素点。实验结果表明，此方法     

基于非刚体配准的体数据插值重建方法

三维图像的处理和操作需要将一般的断层序列插值成为具有各坐标轴一致的分辨率的体数据，而目前最常用的线性插值方法在层间距较大时会导致图像边缘模糊和出现伪影。Penney根据现有的非刚体匹配方法，提出了利用图像形变场数据的插值算法，大大提高了层间插值的质量。本文对Penney提出的算法进行了两方面的改进，在配准过程中用简单的单射性约束取代了复杂的平滑性约束，用邻域平均算法替代Penney使用的最邻近直线插值方法，并将新算法的实验结果与原算法、线性插值进行了对比。新算法在保持高质量插值的前提下提高了计算速度。该算法可以应用于精度要求比较高的体数据插值重建过程。     

Quantitative evaluation of free-form deformation registration for dynamic contrast-enhanced MR mammography

In this paper, we present an evaluation study of a set of registration strategies for the alignment of sequences of 3D dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance breast images. The accuracy of the optimal registration strategies was determined on unseen data. The evaluation is based on the simulation of physically plausible breast deformations using finite element methods and on contrast-enhanced image pairs without visually detectable motion artifacts. The configuration of the finite element model was chosen according to its ability to predict in vivo breast deformations for two volunteers. We computed transformations for ten patients with 12 simulated deformations each. These deformations were applied to the postcontrast image to model patient motion occurring between pre- and postcontrast image acquisition. The original precontrast images were registered to the corresponding deformed postcontrast images. The performance of several registration configurations (rigid, affine, B-spline based nonrigid, single-resolution, multi-resolution, and volume-preserving) was optimized for five of the ten patients. The images were most accurately aligned with volume-preserving single-resolution nonrigid registration employing 40 or 20 mm control point spacing. When tested on the remaining five patients the optimal configurations reduced the average mean registration error from 1.40 to 0.45 mm for the whole breast tissue and from 1.20 to 0.32 mm for the enhancing lesion. These results were obtained on average within 26 (81) min for 40 (20) mm control point spacing. The visual appearance of the difference images from 30 patients was significantly improved after 20 mm volume-preserving single-resolution nonrigid registration in comparison to no registration or rigid registration. No substantial volume changes within the region of the enhancing lesions were introduced by this nonrigid registration.     

灰度级别对基于互信息医学图像配准方法的影响

医学图像配准在医学图像处理领域中已经被广泛使用。基于互信息配准的方法具有自动化程度高、配准精度高等优点。基于互信息的配准方法实质上是一种进行灰度统计和计算的方法 ,因此同一图像采用不同的灰度表示必然会影响配准结果。在分析灰度级别的压缩对于图像质量的影响和基于互信息配准方法的影响的基础上 ,进行了一系列的多模态医学图像配准试验 ,从配准精度和计算时间两个方面比较了不同的灰度级别对图像配准的影响。在详细分析和比较不同级别图像配准结果的基础上 ,给出了基于互信息配准时所采用的合理灰度级别的建议。     

Temporal subtraction of dual-energy chest radiographs

Temporal subtraction and dual-energy imaging are two enhanced radiography techniques that are receiving increased attention in chest radiography. Temporal subtraction is an image processing technique that facilitates the visualization of pathologic change across serial chest radiographic images acquired from the same patient; dual-energy imaging exploits the differential relative attenuation of x-ray photons exhibited by soft-tissue and bony structures at different x-ray energies to generate a pair of images that accentuate those structures. Although temporal subtraction images provide a powerful mechanism for enhancing visualization of subtle change, misregistration artifacts in these images can mimic or obscure abnormalities. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether dual-energy imaging could improve the quality of temporal subtraction images. Temporal subtraction images were generated from 100 pairs of temporally sequential standard radiographic chest images and from the corresponding 100 pairs of dual-energy, soft-tissue radiographic images. The registration accuracy demonstrated in the resulting temporal subtraction images was evaluated subjectively by two radiologists. The registration accuracy of the soft-tissue-based temporal subtraction images was rated superior to that of the conventional temporal subtraction images. Registration accuracy also was evaluated objectively through an automated method, which achieved an area-under-the-ROC-curve value of 0.92 in the distinction between temporal subtraction images that demonstrated clinically acceptable and clinically unacceptable registration accuracy. By combining dual-energy soft-tissue images with temporal subtraction, misregistration artifacts can be reduced and superior image quality can be obtained.     

Registration of FA and T1-Weighted MRI Data of Healthy Human Brain Based on Template Matching and Normalized Cross-Correlation

In this work, we propose a new approach for three-dimensional registration of MR fractional anisotropy images with T1-weighted anatomy images of human brain. From the clinical point of view, this accurate coregistration allows precise detection of nerve fibers that is essential in neuroscience. A template matching algorithm combined with normalized cross-correlation was used for this registration task. To show the suitability of the proposed method, it was compared with the normalized mutual information-based B-spline registration provided by the Elastix software library, considered a reference method. We also propose a general framework for the evaluation of robustness and reliability of both registration methods. Both registration methods were tested by four evaluation criteria on a dataset consisting of 74 healthy subjects. The template matching algorithm has shown more reliable results than the reference method in registration of the MR fractional anisotropy and T1 anatomy image data. Significant differences were observed in the regions splenium of corpus callosum and genu of corpus callosum, considered very important areas of brain connectivity. We demonstrate that, in this registration task, the currently used mutual information-based parametric registration can be replaced by more accurate local template matching utilizing the normalized cross-correlation similarity measure.     

一种快速校正CT环形伪影的方法

背景：环形伪影严重影响了CT图像质量,对图像后处理造成困难以及容易造成误诊断。目前去除环形伪影必不可少。 目的：去除CT重建图像中的环形伪影,提高CT图像质量以及后续处理和量化分析的精度,便于诊断。 方法：首先把含环形伪影的CT图像进行线性变换,将灰度图像转换成浮点类型的图像。接着由直角坐标变换到极坐标,这样原来的环形伪影就被变换成线形伪影。设计多维滤波器,计算每个象素滤波后均值以及方差,通过与阈值比较确定伪影范围。最后通过对伪影范围进行修正以及对图像进行坐标变换,变为灰度图像。 结果与结论：通过Matlab 7.0软件设计程序,处理含环形伪影的CT图像。实验表明,此方法能有效快速地校正CT环形伪影,是一种属于图像后处理的校正方法。     

Robust feature-based registration using a Gaussian-weighted distance map and brain feature points for brain PET/CT images

Feature-based registration is an effective technique for clinical use, because it can greatly reduce computational costs. However, this technique, which estimates the transformation by using feature points extracted from two images may cause misalignments, particularly in brain PET and CT images that have low correspondence rates between features due to differences in image characteristics. To cope with this limitation, we propose a robust feature-based registration technique using a Gaussian-weighted distance map (GWDM) that finds the best alignment of feature points even when features of two images are mismatched. A GWDM is generated by propagating the value of the Gaussian-weighted mask from feature points of CT images and leads the feature points of PET images to be aligned on an optimal location even though there is a localization error between feature points extracted from PET and CT images. Feature points are extracted from two images by our automatic brain segmentation method. In our experiments, simulated and clinical data sets were used to compare our method with conventional methods such as normalized mutual information (NMI)-based registration and chamfer matching in accuracy, robustness, and computational time. Experimental results showed that our method aligned the images robustly even in cases where conventional methods failed to find optimal locations. In addition, the accuracy of our method was comparable to that of the NMI-based registration method.     

Automatic noise robust registration of radiographs for subtraction using strategic local correlation: an application to radiographs of dental implants

Most of digital subtraction methods in dental radiography are based on registration using manual landmarks. We have developed an automatic registration method without using the manual selection of landmarks. By restricting a geometrical matching of images to a region of interest (ROI), we compare the cross-correlation coefficient only between the ROIs. The affine or perspective transform parameters satisfying maximum of cross-correlation between the local regions are searched iteratively by a fast searching strategy. The parameters are searched on the 14 scale image coarsely and then, the fine registration is performed on the original scale image. The developed method can match the images corrupted by Gaussian noise with the same accuracy for the images without any transform simulation. The registration accuracy of the perspective method shows a 17% improvement over the manual method. The application of the developed method to radiographs of dental implants provides an automatic noise robust registration with high accuracy in almost real time.