Post-implant computed tomography-magnetic resonance prostate image registration using feature line parallelization and normalized mutual information.

Post-implant dosimetry for permanent prostate brachytherapy is typically performed using computed tomography (CT) images, for which the clear visualization of soft tissue structures is problematic. Registration of CT and magnetic resonance (MR) image volumes can improve the definition of all structures of interest (soft tissues, bones, and seeds) in the joint image set. In the present paper, we describe a novel two-stage rigid-body registration algorithm that consists of (1) parallelization of straight lines fit to image features running primarily in the superior-inferior (Z) direction, followed by (2) normalized mutual information registration.