Biomechanically driven registration of pre- to intra-operative 3D images for laparoscopic surgery.

Minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery is widely used for the treatment of cancer and other diseases. During the procedure, gas insufflation is used to create space for laparoscopic tools and operation. Insufflation causes the organs and abdominal wall to deform significantly.

Atlas image labeling of subcortical structures and vascular territories in brain CT images.

We propose a multi-atlas labeling method for subcortical structures and cerebral vascular territories in brain CT images. Each atlas image is registered to the query image by a non-rigid registration and the deformation is then applied to the labeling of the atlas image to obtain the labeling of the query image. Four label fusion strategies (single atlas, most similar atlas, major voting, and STAPLE) were compared.

Simultaneous label fusion with vessel preserving for bone removal in CT angiography scans.

When visualizing vessels with CT angiography scans, the arteries are often obstructed by bones. Traditional methods require an additional non-enhanced scan to acquire a bone mask which is then subtracted from the original CTA scan. In this study, we present an automated bone removal method using only contrast enhanced scans based on simultaneous label fusion.

Simultaneous myocardial strain and dark-blood perfusion imaging using a displacement-encoded MRI pulse sequence.

The purpose of this study is to develop and evaluate a displacement-encoded pulse sequence for simultaneous perfusion and strain imaging. Displacement-encoded images in two to three myocardial slices were repeatedly acquired using a single-shot pulse sequence for 3 to 4 min, which covers a bolus infusion of Gadolinium contrast. The magnitudes of the images were T(1) weighted and provided quantitative measures of perfusion, while the phase maps yielded strain measurements.

Non-contrast-enhanced perfusion and ventilation assessment of the human lung by means of fourier decomposition in proton MRI.

Assessment of regional lung perfusion and ventilation has significant clinical value for the diagnosis and follow-up of pulmonary diseases. In this work a new method of non-contrast-enhanced functional lung MRI (not dependent on intravenous or inhalative contrast agents) is proposed. A two-dimensional (2D) true fast imaging with steady precession (TrueFISP) pulse sequence (TR/TE = 1.

Tissue classification as a potential approach for attenuation correction in whole-body PET/MRI: evaluation with PET/CT data.

Unlabelled: Attenuation correction (AC) of whole-body PET data in combined PET/MRI tomographs is expected to be a technical challenge. In this study, a potential solution based on a segmented attenuation map is proposed and evaluated in clinical PET/CT cases.

Methods: Segmentation of the attenuation map into 4 classes (background, lungs, fat, and soft tissue) was hypothesized to be sufficient for AC purposes.

Colon unfolding via skeletal subspace deformation.

We present an efficient method to digitally straighten a colon volume using mesh skinning, a technique well known in computer graphics to deform a polygonal mesh attached to a skeleton hierarchy. In our case, the colon centerline is used as the skeleton structure and the polyhedral model of the lumen as the skin that is to be deformed as the centerline is straightened. Once the colon has been straightened, we use standard rendering techniques to compute the virtual dissection.

Fully automatic, retrospective enhancement of real-time acquired cardiac cine MR images using image-based navigators and respiratory motion-corrected averaging.

Real-time imaging may be clinically important in patients with congestive heart failure, arrhythmias, or in pediatric cases. However, real-time imaging typically has compromised spatial and temporal resolution compared with gated, segmented studies. To combine the best features of both types of imaging, a new method is proposed that uses parallel imaging to improve temporal resolution of real-time acquired images at the expense of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), but then produces an SNR-enhanced cine by means of respiratory motion-corrected averaging of images acquired in real-time over multiple heartbeats while free-breathing.

Magnetic resonance lung function--a breakthrough for lung imaging and functional assessment? A phantom study and clinical trial.

Background: Chronic lung diseases are a major issue in public health. A serial pulmonary assessment using imaging techniques free of ionizing radiation and which provides early information on local function impairment would therefore be a considerably important development. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a powerful tool for the static and dynamic imaging of many organs.

Panoramic views for virtual endoscopy.

This paper describes a panoramic projection designed to increase the surface visibility during virtual endoscopies. The proposed projection renders five faces of a cubic viewing space into the plane in a continuous fashion. Using this real-time and interactive visualization technique as a screening method for colon cancer could lead to significantly shorter evaluation time.

Variational, geometric, and statistical methods for modeling brain anatomy and function.

We survey the recent activities of the Odyssée Laboratory in the area of the application of mathematics to the design of models for studying brain anatomy and function. We start with the problem of reconstructing sources in MEG and EEG, and discuss the variational approach we have developed for solving these inverse problems. This motivates the need for geometric models of the head.