Targeted Coregistration of Abdominal DCE MRI

Artem Mikheev¹, Vivian S. Lee¹, Henry Rusinek¹

Simple coregistration algorithms do not work well for DCE images because of the change in intensity due to the uptake and washout of contrast agent. We have implemented several coregistration algorithms and tested them in the setting of functional exams of the kidney. The variants differ in sequencing of coregistration steps and in the way the organ of interest is specified. Serial and full 4D modes were found to be more accurate than radial mode. There was no statistically significant advantage of full 4D over serial modes. The execution times ranged 16-25 sec for serial, 14-16 sec for radial, and 61-73 sec for full 4D.