Automated planning of scan geometries in spine MRI scans.
Consistency of MR scan planning is very important for diagnosis, especially in multi-site trials and follow-up studies, where disease progress or response to treatment is evaluated. Accurate manual scan planning is tedious and requires skillful operators. On the other hand, automated scan planning is difficult due to relatively low quality of survey images ("scouts") and strict processing time constraints. This paper presents a novel method for automated planning of MRI scans of the spine. Lumbar and cervical examinations are considered, although the proposed method is extendible to other types of spine examinations, such as thoracic or total spine imaging. The automated scan planning (ASP) system consists of an anatomy recognition part, which is able to automatically detect and label the spine anatomy in the scout scan, and a planning part, which performs scan geometry planning based on recognized anatomical landmarks. A validation study demonstrates the robustness of the proposed method and its feasibility for clinical use.
Pekar
Vladimir
V
Philips Research Europe - Hamburg, Germany. vladimir.pekar@philips.com
Bystrov
Daniel
D
Heese
Harald S
HS
Dries
Sebastian P M
SP
Schmidt
Stefan
S
Grewer
Rüdiger
R
den Harder
Chiel J
CJ
Bergmans
René C
RC
Simonetti
Arjan W
AW
van Muiswinkel
Arianne M
AM
D000465:Algorithms; D001185:Artificial Intelligence; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013131:Spine / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D013382:Subtraction Technique