Automatic segmentation of phase-correlated CT scans through nonrigid image registration using geometrically regularized free-form deformation.

Conventional radiotherapy is planned using free-breathing computed tomography (CT), ignoring the motion and deformation of the anatomy from respiration. New breath-hold-synchronized, gated, and four-dimensional (4D) CT acquisition strategies are enabling radiotherapy planning utilizing a set of CT scans belonging to different phases of the breathing cycle. Such 4D treatment planning relies on the availability of tumor and organ contours in all phases.

Registration-assisted segmentation of real-time 3-D echocardiographic data using deformable models.

Real-time three-dimensional (3-D) echocardiography is a new imaging modality that presents the unique opportunity to visualize the complex 3-D shape and motion of the left ventricle (LV) in vivo and to measure the associated global and local function parameters. To take advantage of this opportunity in routine clinical practice, automatic segmentation of the LV in the 3-D echocardiographic data, usually hundreds of megabytes large, is essential. We report a new segmentation algorithm for this task.

FAIR: a hardware architecture for real-time 3-D image registration.

Mutual information-based image registration, shown to be effective in registering a range of medical images, is a computationally expensive process, with a typical execution time on the order of minutes on a modern single-processor computer. Accelerated execution of this process promises to enhance efficiency and therefore promote routine use of image registration clinically. This paper presents details of a hardware architecture for real-time three-dimensional (3-D) image registration.

High-speed registration of three- and four-dimensional medical images by using voxel similarity.

A generalized, accurate, automatic, retrospective method of image registration for three-dimensional images has been developed. The method is based on mutual information, a specific measure of voxel similarity, and is applicable to a wide range of imaging modalities and organs, rigid or deformable. A drawback of mutual information-based image registration is long execution times.