Nonrigid Registration of Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced MRI data using Motion Informed Intensity Corrections

摘要

Effective early detection and monitoring of patient response to cancer therapy is important for improved patient outcomes, avoiding unnecessary procedures and their associated toxicities, as well as the development of new therapies. Dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging shows promise as a way to evaluate tumour vasculature and assess the efficacy of new anti-angiogenic drugs. However, unavoidable patient motion can decrease the accuracy of subsequent analyses rendering the data unusable. Motion correction algorithms are challenging to develop for contrast-enhanced data since intensity changes due to contrast-enhancement and patient motion must somehow be differentiated from one another. A novel method is presented that employs a motion-informed intensity correction in order to facilitate the registration of contrast-enhanced data. The intensity correction simulates the presence or absence of contrast agent in the image volumes to be registered in an attempt to emulate the level of contrast-enhancement present in a single reference image volume.