Image Registration in ASL-Perfusion Imaging of Kidney - Impact on Image Quality

Kiril Schewzow¹, Frank Gerrit Zllner¹, Niels Oesingmann², Lothar Rudi Schad¹

ASL techniques suffer from low SNR and especially in abdominal imaging, from organ movements, e.g. breathing. In this work, we analyzed the impact of automatic image registration on signal quality and increase of SNR by averaging in ASL kidney perfusion imaging. To evaluate the registration we compared results to manual registration based on landmarks. Both registration techniques improve the image quality significantly. However, the automatic is the preferred method for large data sets. In addition, a higher SNR is reached contributing to reliable quantification.