Medical image registration using mutual information

• Published in: Proceedings of the IEEE Vol. 91; no. 10; pp. 1699 - 1722
• Main Authors: Maes, F., Vandermeulen, D., Suetens, P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.10.2003; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Alignment; Biomedical imaging; Computed tomography; Criteria; Digital images; Image analysis; Image registration; Information theory; Layout; Magnetic resonance imaging; Matching; Maximization; Medical; Medical diagnostic imaging; Mutual information; Positron emission tomography; Segmentation; Three dimensional
• ISSN: 0018-9219; 1558-2256
• DOI: 10.1109/JPROC.2003.817864

Analysis of multispectral or multitemporal images requires proper geometric alignment of the images to compare corresponding regions in each image volume. Retrospective three-dimensional alignment or registration of multimodal medical images based on features intrinsic to the image data itself is complicated by their different photometric properties, by the complexity of the anatomical objects in the scene and by the large variety of clinical applications in which registration is involved. While the accuracy of registration approaches based on matching of anatomical landmarks or object surfaces suffers from segmentation errors, voxel-based approaches consider all voxels in the image without the need for segmentation. The recent introduction of the criterion of maximization of mutual information, a basic concept from information theory, has proven to be a breakthrough in the field. While solutions for intrapatient affine registration based on this concept are already commercially available, current research in the field focuses on interpatient nonrigid matching.