title: A stereotactic method for the three-dimensional registration of multi-modality biologic images in animals: NMR, PET, histology, and autoradiography.
abstract: The objective of this work was to develop and then validate a stereotactic fiduciary marker system for tumor xenografts in rodents which could be used to co-register magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), PET, tissue histology, autoradiography, and measurements from physiologic probes. A Teflon fiduciary template has been designed which allows the precise insertion of small hollow Teflon rods (0.71 mm diameter) into a tumor. These rods can be visualized by MRI and PET as well as by histology and autoradiography on tissue sections. The methodology has been applied and tested on a rigid phantom, on tissue phantom material, and finally on tumor bearing mice. Image registration has been performed between the MRI and PET images for the rigid Teflon phantom and among MRI, digitized microscopy images of tissue histology, and autoradiograms for both tissue phantom and tumor-bearing mice. A registration accuracy, expressed as the average Euclidean distance between the centers of three fiduciary markers among the registered image sets, of 0.2 +/- 0.06 mm was achieved between MRI and microPET image sets of a rigid Teflon phantom. The fiduciary template allows digitized tissue sections to be co-registered with three-dimensional MRI images with an average accuracy of 0.21 and 0.25 mm for the tissue phantoms and tumor xenografts, respectively. Between histology and autoradiograms, it was 0.19 and 0.21 mm for tissue phantoms and tumor xenografts, respectively. The fiduciary marker system provides a coordinate system with which to correlate information from multiple image types, on a voxel-by-voxel basis, with sub-millimeter accuracy--even among imaging modalities with widely disparate spatial resolution and in the absence of identifiable anatomic landmarks.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics and Radiology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Avenue, New York, New York 10021, USA. hummj@mskcc.org
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Humm
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ballon
authors.forename: Y C
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ruan
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chui
authors.forename: P K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Tulipano
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Erdi
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Koutcher
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zakian
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Urano
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zanzonico
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mattis
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dyke
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Harrington
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: O'Donoghue
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Ling
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000792:Angiography / Q000379:methods; D000818:Animals; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008853:Microscopy / Q000379:methods; D008875:Middle Aged; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D010780:Photogrammetry / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D013382:Subtraction Technique / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed