Objective evaluation of the correction by non-rigid registration of abdominal organ motion in low-dose 4D dynamic contrast-enhanced CT

• Published in: Physics in medicine & biology Vol. 57; no. 6; pp. 1701 - 1715
• Main Authors: Piper, Jim, Ikeda, Yoshihiro, Fujisawa, Yasuko, Ohno, Yoshiharu, Yoshikawa, Takeshi, O'Neil, Alison, Poole, Ian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England IOP Publishing 21.03.2012
• Subjects: Biophysical Phenomena; computed tomography; Contrast Media; Databases, Factual; error analysis; Four-Dimensional Computed Tomography - statistics & numerical data; Humans; image registration; motion correction; Movement; Observer Variation; Radiography, Abdominal - statistics & numerical data
• ISSN: 0031-9155; 1361-6560
• DOI: 10.1088/0031-9155/57/6/1701

We objectively evaluate a straightforward registration method for correcting respiration-induced movement of abdominal organs in CT perfusion studies by measuring the distributions of alignment errors between corresponding landmark pairs. We introduce the concept and describe the advantages of using the surface-normal component of distance between pairs of corresponding landmarks selected so that their surface normal is in one of the three coordinate axis directions, and show that such landmarks can be precisely placed with respect to the surface normal. Using a large population of landmark pairs on a substantial quantity of 4D dynamic contrast-enhanced CT volume data, we quantify the average alignment errors of abdominal organs that remain uncorrected by registration.