Spine image fusion via graph cuts.
This study investigates a novel CT/MR spine image fusion algorithm based on graph cuts. This algorithm allows physicians to visually assess corresponding soft tissue and bony detail on a single image eliminating mental alignment and correlation needed when both CT and MR images are required for diagnosis. We state the problem as a discrete multilabel optimization of an energy functional that balances the contributions of three competing terms: (1) a squared error, which encourages the solution to be similar to the MR input, with a preference to strong MR edges; (2) a squared error, which encourages the solution to be similar to the CT input, with a preference to strong CT edges; and (3) a prior, which favors smooth solutions by encouraging neighboring pixels to have similar fused-image values. We further introduce a transparency-labeling formulation, which significantly reduces the computational load. The proposed graph-cut fusion guarantees nearly global solutions, while avoiding the pix elation artifacts that affect standard wavelet-based methods. We report several quantitative evaluations/comparisons over 40 pairs of CT/MR images acquired from 20 patients, which demonstrate a very competitive performance in comparisons to the existing methods. We further discuss various case studies, and give a representative sample of the results.
University of Western Ontario, London, ON N6A 3K7, Canada. bmiles@uwo.ca
Brandon
B
Miles
Ismail
I
Ben Ayed
Max W K
MW
Law
Greg
G
Garvin
Aaron
A
Fenster
Shuo
S
Li
D000465:Algorithms; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D064847:Multimodal Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated / Q000379:methods; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013122:Spinal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D013131:Spine / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D013382:Subtraction Technique; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*; D058067:Wavelet Analysis