Abstract #3054

DCE-MRI Non-Rigid Kidney Registration

Michael Hofer¹, Steven Keeling², Gernot Reishofer³, Michael Riccabona⁴, Manuela Aschauer³, Rudolf Stollberger¹

¹Institute of Medical Engineering, Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria; ²Institute for Mathematics and Scientific Computing, University of Graz, Graz, Austria; ³Department of Radiology, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria; ⁴Department of Pediatric Radiology, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria

Dynamic contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) is a very promising method for noninvasive assessment of renal function. To remove the influence of motion artifacts like breathing, a novel registration approach is proposed which derives a template image series with the underlying signal time course. This results in an independency from signal changes due to contrast media uptake. The original dynamic time series (source images) is then registered by elastic registration to this virtual template. The algorithm successfully reduces motion artifacts. Comparisons between pre and post registration underlines the importance of image registration in DCE-MRI examinations.