Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
10
Registration of MR and CT Images
for Clinical
Applications
Derek L.G. Hill and Jozef Jarosz
CONTENTS
10.1 Introduction .............................................................................................. 217
10.2 Technical Issues ........................................................................................ 218
10.2.1 Image Acquisition ...................................................................... 218
10.2.1.1 Field of View .............................................................. 218
10.2.1.2 Resolution .................................................................. 220
10.2.1.3 Image Distortion ....................................................... 221
10.2.1.4 Patient Motion ........................................................... 221
10.2.1.5 Data Transfer.............................................................. 223
10.2.2 Registration Methods ................................................................ 224
10.2.2.1 Registration Using Geometrical Features .............. 224
10.2.2.2 Registration Using Voxel Intensity Values ............ 225
10.2.2.3 Assessing Registration Accuracy ............................ 226
10.2.3 Viewing the Combined Images................................................ 226
10.3 Applications.............................................................................................. 227
10.3.1 Planning Surgery of the Brain and Skull Base ....................... 227
10.3.2 Localizing Electrodes in the Brain ........................................... 227
10.3.3 Radiotherapy Planning ............................................................. 228
10.3.4 Applications Outside the Head ............................................... 229
10.4 Conclusions............................................................................................... 229
References ............................................................................................. 230
10.1
Introduction
During the 1980s, the tomographic imaging modalities of magnetic resonance
(MR) imaging and x-ray computed tomography (CT) entered widespread clini-
cal use, especially for imaging the brain. These two modalities are based on very
different physical principles, and the images they produce have different prop-
erties. MR imaging generates images showing the distribution of protons in
