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Abstract #3883

Evaluation of 3D Non-Rigid Algorithms for the Registration of the Lower Legs in MRA

Daniel Foley1, Barry Sheane1, Mark Knox1, Dearbhail ODriscoll1, Niall Sheehy1, James F. Meaney1, 2, Andrew J. Fagan1, 2

1Centre for Advanced Medical Imaging (CAMI), St. James's Hospital, Dublin, Ireland; 2School of Medicine, Trinity College, University of Dublin, Ireland


The use of a simple registration procedure has been shown to improve image quality in MR angiography images of the lower legs. The aim of this study was to investigate the use of more sophisticated registration algorithms designed specifically to deal with pre- and post-contrast signal intensity differences. Significant improvements using these algorithms were noted in a clinical evaluation of the diagnostic image quality, while contrast-to-noise ratios of the blood vessels were also significantly improved. Of concern was the observation that simple algorithms degraded the vessel integrity in the registered images, which could lead to mis-diagnoses of apparent stenoses.