Real-time image-based rigid registration of three-dimensional ultrasound

Abstract

Registration of three-dimensional ultrasound (3DUS) volumes is necessary in several applications, such as when stitching volumes to expand the field of view or when stabilizing a temporal sequence of volumes to cancel out motion of the probe or anatomy. Current systems that register 3DUS volumes either use external tracking systems (electromagnetic or optical), which add expense and impose limitations on acquisitions, or are image-based methods that operate offline and are incapable of providing immediate feedback to clinicians. This paper presents a real-time image-based algorithm for rigid registration of 3DUS volumes designed for acquisitions in which small probe displacements occur between frames. Described is a method for feature detection and descriptor formation that takes into account the characteristics of 3DUS imaging. Volumes are registered by determining a correspondence between these features. A global set of features is maintained and integrated into the registration, which limits the accumulation of registration error. The system operates in real-time (i.e. volumes are registered as fast or faster than they are acquired) by using an accelerated framework on a graphics processing unit. The algorithm’s parameter selection and performance is analyzed and validated in studies which use both water tank and clinical images. The resulting registration accuracy is comparable to similar feature-based registration methods, but in contrast to these methods, can register 3DUS volumes in real-time.

Temporal enhancement of two-dimensional color doppler echocardiography

“…This phenomenon is called temporal incoherence. 3 (a) Retrospective gating scheme. Frames are acquired at a fixed rate and reordered according to their offset inside cardiac cycles.…”

“…There are various approaches to solve these problems in adjacent fields. For example, frame reordering 2 and image stabilization 3 have been applied for real-time 3D echocardiography in order to enhance its temporal resolution.…”

A Markov random field approach to group-wise registration/mosaicing with application to ultrasound

“…A solution for the real-time rigid registration of 3D ultrasound volumes was presented in Schneider et al (2012). Our approach adds the capability to handle the significant non-rigid deformations and imaging artifacts which are present in clinical abdominal and obstetrics ultrasound.…”

Bidirectional elastic image registration using B-spline affine transformation

“…The motivation is typically to compare the morphological variations of two images. There have been numerous algorithms [1–3] developed for this purpose in the past, particularly in the area of medical image analysis [4–7]. A relatively comprehensive review of the available methods can be found in [8–10].…”