Behaviors of cost functions in image registration between 201Tl brain tumor single-photon emission computed tomography and magnetic resonance images.

Objective: We studied the behaviors of cost functions in the registration of thallium-201 (201Tl) brain tumor single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and magnetic resonance (MR) images, as the similarity index of image positioning.

Methods: A marker for image registration [technetium-99m (99mTc) point source] was attached at three sites on the heads of 13 patients with brain tumor, from whom 42 sets of 99mTc-201Tl SPECT (the dual-isotope acquisition) and MR images were obtained. The 201Tl SPECT and MR images were manually registered according to the markers. From the positions where the two images were registered, the position of the 201Tl SPECT was moved to examine the behaviors of the three cost functions, i.e., ratio image uniformity (RIU), mutual information (MI), and normalized MI (NMI).

Results: The cost functions MI and NMI reached the maximum at positions adjacent to those where the SPECT and MR images were manually registered. As for the accuracy of image registration in terms of the cost functions MI and NMI, on average, the images were accurately registered within 3 degrees of rotation around the X-, Y-, and Z-axes, and within 1.5 mm (within 2 pixels), 3 mm (within 3 pixels), and 4 mm (within 1 slice) of translation to the X-, Y-, and Z-axes, respectively. In terms of rotation around the Z-axis, the cost function RIU reached the minimum at positions where the manual registration of the two images was substantially inadequate.

Conclusions: The MI and NMI were suitable cost functions in the registration of 201Tl SPECT and MR images. The behavior of the RIU, in contrast, was unstable, being unsuitable as an index of image registration.