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A hybrid strategy to integrate surface-based and mutual-information-based methods for co-registering brain SPECT and MR images

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Abstract

Co-registration of brain SPECT and MR images has been used extensively in clinical applications. The complementary features of two major co-registration methods—surface- and mutual-information-based (MI-based)—motivated us to study a hybrid-based scheme that uses the surface-based method to achieve a quick alignment, followed by the MI-based method for fine tuning. Computer simulations were conducted to evaluate the accuracy and robustness of surface-, MI-, and hybrid-based registration methods by designing different levels of noise and mismatch in the registration experiments. Results demonstrated that the hybrid surface-MI-based scheme outperforms both the surface- and MI-based methods in providing superior accuracy and success rates. Specifically, the translational and rotational errors were no more than 1 mm and 2°, respectively, with consistent success rates over 98%. Besides, the hybrid-based method saved 12–53% of the computation efforts, compared with using the MI-based method alone. We recommend the use of hybrid-based method when the orientational differences between the floating and reference images exceed 10°.

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Acknowledgments

The authors express gratitude to Dr. Berengere Aubert-Broche for providing a series of synthetic images, and Shih-Pei Chen for his help on data acquisition and comments. Our gratitude also goes to Jaya Ramchandani for his assistance in English language editing. This study was partially supported by the Taipei Veterans General Hospital (V96 ER1-005), and the National Science Council of Taiwan (NSC 95-2752-B-075-001-PAE, NSC 95-2752-B-010-006-PAE, NSC 96-2752-B-075-001-PAE, NSC 96-2752-B-010-006-PAE, NSC 97-2752-B-075-001-PAE, NSC 97-2752-B-010-001-PAE, NSC 98-2752-B-075-001-PAE, and NSC 98-2752-B-010-001-PAE).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, No. 1, Dasyue Rd., East District, Tainan City, 70101, Taiwan

    Yuan-Lin Liao & Yung-Nien Sun

  2. Department of Radiology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, No. 201, Sec. 2, Shipai Rd., Beitou District, Taipei City, 11217, Taiwan

    Wan-Yuo Guo

  3. Department of Psychiatry, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, No. 201, Sec. 2, Shipai Rd., Beitou District, Taipei City, 11217, Taiwan

    Yuan-Hwa Chou

  4. Integrated Brain Research Laboratory, Department of Medical Research and Education, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, No. 201, Sec. 2, Shipai Rd., Beitou District, Taipei City, 11217, Taiwan

    Jen-Chuen Hsieh & Yu-Te Wu

  5. Institute of Brain Science, National Yang-Ming University, No. 155, Sec. 2, Linong St., Beitou District, Taipei City, 11221, Taiwan

    Jen-Chuen Hsieh

  6. Department of Biomedical Imaging and Radiological Sciences, National Yang-Ming University, No. 155, Sec. 2, Linong St., Beitou District, Taipei City, 11221, Taiwan

    Yu-Te Wu

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  1. Yuan-Lin Liao
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  2. Yung-Nien Sun
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  4. Yuan-Hwa Chou
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  5. Jen-Chuen Hsieh
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Correspondence to Yung-Nien Sun or Yu-Te Wu.

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Liao, YL., Sun, YN., Guo, WY. et al. A hybrid strategy to integrate surface-based and mutual-information-based methods for co-registering brain SPECT and MR images. Med Biol Eng Comput 49, 671–685 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11517-010-0724-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11517-010-0724-9

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