Nonrigid registration algorithm for longitudinal breast MR images and the preliminary analysis of breast tumor response
Xia Li, Benoît M. Dawant, Edward Brian Welch, A. Bapsi Chakravarthy, Darla Freehardt, Ingrid A. Mayer, Mark Carlton Kelley, Ingrid Marie Meszoely, John C. Gore, Thomas E. Yankeelov · Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE · 2009
Although useful for the detection of breast cancers, conventional imaging methods, including mammography and ultrasonography, do not provide adequate information regarding response to therapy. Dynamic contrast enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) has emerged as a promising technique to provide relevant information on tumor status. Consequently, accurate longitudinal registration of breast MR images is critical for the comparison of changes induced by treatment at the voxel level. In this study, a nonrigid registration algorithm is proposed to allow for longitudinal registration of breast MR images obtained throughout the course of treatment. We accomplish this by modifying the adaptive bases algorithm (ABA) through adding a tumor volume preserving constraint in the cost function. The registration results demonstrate the proposed algorithm can successfully register the longitudinal breast MR images and permit analysis of the parameter maps. We also propose a novel validation method to evaluate the proposed registration algorithm quantitatively. These validations also demonstrate that the proposed algorithm constrains tumor deformation well and performs better than the unconstrained ABA algorithm.