Image Registration and Fusion for Interventional MRI Guided Thermal Ablation of the Prostate Cancer

Abstract. We are investigating interventional MRI (iMRI) guided thermal ablation treatment of the prostate cancer. Functional images such as SPECT can detect and localize tumor in the prostate not reliably seen in MRI. We intend to combine the advantages of SPECT with iMRI-guided treatments. Our concept is to first register the low-resolution SPECT with a high resolution MRI volume. Then by registering the high-resolution MR image with iMRI acquisitions, we can, in turn, map the functional data and high-resolution anatomic information to iMRI images for improved tumor targeting. For the first step, we used a mutual information registration method. For the latter, we developed a robust slice to volume (SV) registration algorithm. Image data were acquired from patients and volunteers. Compared to our volume-to-volume registration that was previously evaluated to be quite accurate, the SV registration accuracy is about 0.5 mm for transverse images covering the prostate. With our image registration and fusion software, simulation experiments show that it is feasible to incorporate SPECT and high resolution MRI into the iMRI-guided treatment.

Registration and fusion of SPECT, high-resolution MRI, and interventional MRI for thermal ablation of prostate cancer

We are investigating interventional MRI (iMRI) guided radiofrequency thermal ablation for the minimally invasive treatment of the prostate cancer. Nuclear medicine can detect and localize tumor in the prostate not reliably seen in MRI. We intend to combine the advantages of functional images such as nuclear medicine SPECT with iMRI-guided treatments. Our concept is to first register the low-resolution SPECT with a high-resolution MRI volume. Then by registering the high-resolution MR image with live-time iMRI acquisitions, we can, in turn, map the functional data and high-resolution anatomic information to live-time iMRI images for improved tumor targeting. For the first step, we used a three-dimensional mutual information registration method. For the latter, we developed a robust slice to volume (SV) registration algorithm with special features. The concept was tested using image data from three patients and three volunteers. The SV registration accuracy was 0.4 mm /spl plusmn/ 0.2 mm as compared to our volume- to-volume registration that was previously shown to be quite accurate for these image pairs. With our image registration and fusion software, simulation experiments show that it is quite feasible to incorporate SPECT and high-resolution MRI into the iMRI-guided minimally invasive treatment procedures