Registration of in vivo prostate MRI and pseudo‐whole mount histology using Local Affine Transformations guided by Internal Structures (LATIS)

Abstract

Purpose To present a novel registration approach called LATIS (Local Affine Transformation assisted by Internal Structures) for co-registering post prostatectomy pseudo-whole mount (PWM) pathological sections with in vivo MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) images. Materials and Methods Thirty-five patients with biopsy-proven prostate cancer were imaged at 3T with an endorectal coil. Excised prostate specimens underwent quarter mount step-section pathologic processing, digitization, annotation and assembly into a PWM. Manually annotated macro-structures on both pathology and MRI were used to assist registration using a relaxed local affine transformation approximation. Registration accuracy was assessed by calculation of the dice similarity coefficient (DSC) between transformed and target capsule masks and least square distance between transformed and target landmark positions. Results LATIS registration resulted in a DSC value of 0.991±0.004 and registration accuracy of 1.54±0.64 mm based on identified landmarks common to both datasets. Image registration performed without the use of internal structures led to an 87% increase in landmark based registration error. Derived transformation matrices were used to map regions of pathologically defined disease to MRI. Conclusion LATIS was used to successfully co-register digital pathology with in vivo MRI to facilitate improved correlative studies between pathologically identified features of prostate cancer and multi-parametric MRI.

Multiregional Radiogenomic Assessment of Prostate Microenvironments with Multiparametric MR Imaging and DNA Whole-Exome Sequencing of Prostate Glands with Adenocarcinoma

“…Although we did not identify any significant correlations between the mutation profiles and multiparametric MR imaging measures, this may have been a limitation of the sample size because recent studies (35,36) investigating imaging correlates of multiparametric MR imaging and gene expression in prostate cancer show some promise for possible association maps to be constructed. Additionally, although detailed review by a genitourinary pathologist and genitourinary radiologist to ensure concordance of MR imaging and histologic specimens supported spatial concordance of the multiparametric MR imaging description and sequenced tissue, the development of objective, electronic registration of whole mounts with MR imaging (37–39) could assist in colocalizing lesions with greater accuracy, accounting for differences in nonconcordance of the axial axis in the MR versus the whole-mount sections (ie, obliquities between multiparametric MR imaging axial and whole-mount specimen slices).…”

Computer-aided Detection of Prostate Cancer with MRI

“…Registration is also used to validate in vivo MR imaging using ex vivo histologic images [107, 108]. To obtain the reliable ground truth of the prostate cancer region, whole-mount histology is performed on ex vivo prostate.…”

“…Based on the registration between the whole-mount histology and T2W MRI, the labelling of the cancer in histology can be mapped to T2W MRI for validation [107, 108]. Kalavagunta et al [108] proposed a method to register MRI and histology using local affine transformations guided by internal structures. First, the histologic and MR images are first segmented, scaled, and translated.…”

Improved Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Pathology Correlation With Imaging-Derived, 3D-Printed, Patient-Specific Whole-Mount Molds of the Prostate

“…Secondly, we analyzed a single slice rather than the entire gland; the differences observed in that one slice may not preserve a linear relationship with the differences observed should the entire gland had been analyzed. Additionally, while PSMs pursue image registration based on direct anatomical similarity, different strategies using software-based algorithms have been proposed by other groups 23–25 and have not been compared to the PSM approach. Although we presented an example of how the cost of the technology has been decreasing, we did not objectively perform a cost analysis of this technique.…”