Automated registration of diagnostic to prediagnostic x-ray mammograms: evaluation and comparison to radiologists' accuracy.

Purpose: To compare and evaluate intensity-based registration methods for computation of serial x-ray mammogram correspondence.

Methods: X-ray mammograms were simulated from MRIs of 20 women using finite element methods for modeling breast compressions and employing a MRI/x-ray appearance change model. The parameter configurations of three registration methods, affine, fluid, and free-form deformation (FFD), were optimized for registering x-ray mammograms on these simulated images.