Abstract #4121

Validation of a Nonrigid Registration Algorithm for Longitudinal Breast MR Images

Xia Li¹, Benoit Dawant², E. Brian Welch^1,3, A. Bapsi Chakravarthy⁴, Darla Freehardt⁴, Ingrid Mayer⁵, Mark Kelley⁶, Ingrid Meszoely⁶, John Gore¹, Thomas Yankeelov¹

¹Institute of Imaging Science, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA; ²Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA; ³Philips Healthcare; ⁴Radiation Oncology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA; ⁵Medical Oncology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA; ⁶Surgical Oncology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

The analysis of dynamic contrast enhanced MRI provides relevant information on tumor status. We have proposed a method whereby the longitudinal breast DCE-MRI data sets are co-registered, thereby retaining spatial information so that DCE-MRI parameter maps can be compared on a voxel-by-voxel basis. We accomplished this by extending the adaptive bases algorithm through adding a tumor-volume preserving constraint in the cost function. The visual assessment shows the proposed algorithm can successfully register the breast MR images. In this study, a novel validation method is proposed here to simulate the deformation of the longitudinal breast MR images and verify different nonrigid registration algorithms accurately.