Gerhardt Julia, Sollmann Nico, Hiepe Patrick, Kirschke Jan S, Meyer Bernhard, Krieg Sandro M, Ringel Florian
Department of Neurosurgery, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Ismaninger Str. 22, 81675, Munich, Germany.
Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Ismaninger Str. 22, 81675, Munich, Germany; TUM-Neuroimaging Center, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany.
Clin Neurol Neurosurg. 2019 Aug;183:105387. doi: 10.1016/j.clineuro.2019.105387. Epub 2019 Jun 10.
OBJECTIVE: Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) based on echo-planar imaging (EPI) can suffer from geometric image distortions in comparison to conventional anatomical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Therefore, DTI-derived information, such as fiber tractography (FT) used for treatment planning of brain tumors, might be associated with spatial inaccuracies when linearly projected on anatomical MRI. Hence, a non-linear, semi-elastic image fusion shall be evaluated in this study that aims at correcting for image distortions in DTI. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In a sample of 27 patient datasets, 614 anatomical landmark pairs were retrospectively defined in DTI and T1- or T2-weighted three-dimensional (3D) MRI data. The datasets were processed by a commercial software package (Elements Image Fusion .0; Brainlab AG, Munich, Germany) providing rigid and semi-elastic fusion functionalities, such as DTI distortion correction. To quantify the displacement prior to and after semi-elastic fusion, the Euclidian distances of rigidly and elastically fused landmarks were evaluated by means of descriptive statistics and Bland-Altman plot. RESULTS: For rigid and semi-elastic fusion mean target registration errors of 3.03 ± 2.29 mm and 2.04 ± 1.95 mm were found, respectively, with 91% of the evaluated landmarks moving closer to their position determined in T1- or T2-weighted 3D MRI data after distortion correction. Most efficient correction was achieved for non-superficial landmarks showing distortions up to 1 cm. CONCLUSION: This study indicates that semi-elastic image fusion can be used for retrospective distortion correction of DTI data acquired for image guidance, such as DTI FT as used for a broad range of clinical indications.
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