Registration of 2D x-ray images to 3D MRI by generating pseudo-CT data.
Spatial and soft tissue information provided by magnetic resonance imaging can be very valuable during image-guided procedures, where usually only real-time two-dimensional (2D) x-ray images are available. Registration of 2D x-ray images to three-dimensional (3D) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data, acquired prior to the procedure, can provide optimal information to guide the procedure. However, registering x-ray images to MRI data is not a trivial task because of their fundamental difference in tissue contrast. This paper presents a technique that generates pseudo-computed tomography (CT) data from multi-spectral MRI acquisitions which is sufficiently similar to real CT data to enable registration of x-ray to MRI with comparable accuracy as registration of x-ray to CT. The method is based on a k-nearest-neighbors (kNN)-regression strategy which labels voxels of MRI data with CT Hounsfield Units. The regression method uses multi-spectral MRI intensities and intensity gradients as features to discriminate between various tissue types. The efficacy of using pseudo-CT data for registration of x-ray to MRI was tested on ex vivo animal data. 2D-3D registration experiments using CT and pseudo-CT data of multiple subjects were performed with a commonly used 2D-3D registration algorithm. On average, the median target registration error for registration of two x-ray images to MRI data was approximately 1 mm larger than for x-ray to CT registration. The authors have shown that pseudo-CT data generated from multi-spectral MRI facilitate registration of MRI to x-ray images. From the experiments it could be concluded that the accuracy achieved was comparable to that of registering x-ray images to CT data.
Image Sciences Institute, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands. M.vanderBom@umcutrecht.nl
M J
MJ
van der Bom
J P W
JP
Pluim
M J
MJ
Gounis
E B
EB
van de Kraats
S M
SM
Sprinkhuizen
J
J
Timmer
R
R
Homan
L W
LW
Bartels
D000818:Animals; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*