Deformable Image Registration with Inclusion of Autodetected Homologous Tissue Features

A novel deformable registration algorithm is proposed in the application of radiation therapy. The algorithm starts with autodetection of a number of points with distinct tissue features. The feature points are then matched by using the scale invariance features transform (SIFT) method. The associated feature point pairs are served as landmarks for the subsequent thin plate spline (TPS) interpolation. Several registration experiments using both digital phantom and clinical data demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the method. For the 3D phantom case, markers with error less than 2 mm are over 85% of total test markers, and it takes only 2-3 minutes for 3D feature points association. The proposed method provides a clinically practical solution and should be valuable for various image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) applications

Interactive Multigrid Refinement for Deformable Image Registration

Deformable image registration is the spatial mapping of corresponding locations between images and can be used for important applications in radiotherapy. Although numerous methods have attempted to register deformable medical images automatically, such as salient-feature-based registration (SFBR), free-form deformation (FFD), and demons, no automatic method for registration is perfect, and no generic automatic algorithm has shown to work properly for clinical applications due to the fact that the deformation field is often complex and cannot be estimated well by current automatic deformable registration methods. This paper focuses on how to revise registration results interactively for deformable image registration. We can manually revise the transformed image locally in a hierarchical multigrid manner to make the transformed image register well with the reference image. The proposed method is based on multilevel B-spline to interactively revise the deformable transformation in the overlapping region between the reference image and the transformed image. The resulting deformation controls the shape of the transformed image and produces a nice registration or improves the registration results of other registration methods. Experimental results in clinical medical images for adaptive radiotherapy demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed method

A Novel CT Imaging System with Adjacent Double X-Ray Sources

Current computed tomography (CT) scanners rotate fast to reduce motion artifact. X-ray tube must work in a high power to make the image clear under short exposure time. However, the life span of such a tube may be shortened. In this paper, we propose a novel double sources CT imaging system, which puts two of the same X-ray sources closely with each other. The system is different from current dual source CT with orthogonal X-ray sources. In our system, each projection is taken twice by these two sources to enhance the exposure value and then recovered to a single source projection for image reconstruction. The proposed system can work like normal single source CT system, while halving down the working power for each tube

Determination of Acquisition Frequency for Intrafractional Motion of Pancreas in CyberKnife Radiotherapy

Purpose. To report the characteristics of pancreas motion as tracked using implanted fiducials during radiotherapy treatments with CyberKnife. Methods and Materials. Twenty-nine patients with pancreas cancer treated using CyberKnife system were retrospectively selected for this study. During the treatment, the deviation is examined every 3-4 nodes (~45 s interval) and compensated by the robot. The pancreas displacement calculated from X-ray images acquired within the time interval between two consecutive couch motions constitute a data set. Results. A total of 498 data sets and 4302 time stamps of X-ray images were analyzed in this study. The average duration for each data set is 634 s. The location of the pancreas becomes more dispersed as the time elapses. The acquisition frequency depends on the prespecified movement distance threshold of pancreas. If the threshold between two consecutive images is 1 mm, the acquisition frequency should be less than 30 s, while if the threshold is 2 mm, the acquisition frequency can be around 1 min. Conclusions. The pancreas target moves significantly and unpredictably during treatment. Effective means of compensating the intrafractional movement is critical to ensure adequate dose coverage of the tumor target

Unsupervised CT Metal Artifact Reduction by Plugging Diffusion Priors in Dual Domains

During the process of computed tomography (CT), metallic implants often cause disruptive artifacts in the reconstructed images, impeding accurate diagnosis. Several supervised deep learning-based approaches have been proposed for reducing metal artifacts (MAR). However, these methods heavily rely on training with simulated data, as obtaining paired metal artifact CT and clean CT data in clinical settings is challenging. This limitation can lead to decreased performance when applying these methods in clinical practice. Existing unsupervised MAR methods, whether based on learning or not, typically operate within a single domain, either in the image domain or the sinogram domain. In this paper, we propose an unsupervised MAR method based on the diffusion model, a generative model with a high capacity to represent data distributions. Specifically, we first train a diffusion model using CT images without metal artifacts. Subsequently, we iteratively utilize the priors embedded within the pre-trained diffusion model in both the sinogram and image domains to restore the degraded portions caused by metal artifacts. This dual-domain processing empowers our approach to outperform existing unsupervised MAR methods, including another MAR method based on the diffusion model, which we have qualitatively and quantitatively validated using synthetic datasets. Moreover, our method demonstrates superior visual results compared to both supervised and unsupervised methods on clinical datasets

An edge-directed interpolation method for fetal spine MR images

Abstract Background Fetal spinal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a prenatal routine for proper assessment of fetus development, especially when suspected spinal malformations occur while ultrasound fails to provide details. Limited by hardware, fetal spine MR images suffer from its low resolution. High-resolution MR images can directly enhance readability and improve diagnosis accuracy. Image interpolation for higher resolution is required in clinical situations, while many methods fail to preserve edge structures. Edge carries heavy structural messages of objects in visual scenes for doctors to detect suspicions, classify malformations and make correct diagnosis. Effective interpolation with well-preserved edge structures is still challenging. Method In this paper, we propose an edge-directed interpolation (EDI) method and apply it on a group of fetal spine MR images to evaluate its feasibility and performance. This method takes edge messages from Canny edge detector to guide further pixel modification. First, low-resolution (LR) images of fetal spine are interpolated into high-resolution (HR) images with targeted factor by bi-linear method. Then edge information from LR and HR images is put into a twofold strategy to sharpen or soften edge structures. Finally a HR image with well-preserved edge structures is generated. The HR images obtained from proposed method are validated and compared with that from other four EDI methods. Performances are evaluated from six metrics, and subjective analysis of visual quality is based on regions of interest (ROI). Results All these five EDI methods are able to generate HR images with enriched details. From quantitative analysis of six metrics, the proposed method outperforms the other four from signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), structure similarity index (SSIM), feature similarity index (FSIM) and mutual information (MI) with seconds-level time consumptions (TC). Visual analysis of ROI shows that the proposed method maintains better consistency in edge structures with the original images. Conclusions The proposed method classifies edge orientations into four categories and well preserves structures. It generates convincing HR images with fine details and is suitable in real-time situations. Iterative curvature-based interpolation (ICBI) method may result in crisper edges, while the other three methods are sensitive to noise and artifacts

Diffusion Probabilistic Priors for Zero-Shot Low-Dose CT Image Denoising

Denoising low-dose computed tomography (CT) images is a critical task in medical image computing. Supervised deep learning-based approaches have made significant advancements in this area in recent years. However, these methods typically require pairs of low-dose and normal-dose CT images for training, which are challenging to obtain in clinical settings. Existing unsupervised deep learning-based methods often require training with a large number of low-dose CT images or rely on specially designed data acquisition processes to obtain training data. To address these limitations, we propose a novel unsupervised method that only utilizes normal-dose CT images during training, enabling zero-shot denoising of low-dose CT images. Our method leverages the diffusion model, a powerful generative model. We begin by training a cascaded unconditional diffusion model capable of generating high-quality normal-dose CT images from low-resolution to high-resolution. The cascaded architecture makes the training of high-resolution diffusion models more feasible. Subsequently, we introduce low-dose CT images into the reverse process of the diffusion model as likelihood, combined with the priors provided by the diffusion model and iteratively solve multiple maximum a posteriori (MAP) problems to achieve denoising. Additionally, we propose methods to adaptively adjust the coefficients that balance the likelihood and prior in MAP estimations, allowing for adaptation to different noise levels in low-dose CT images. We test our method on low-dose CT datasets of different regions with varying dose levels. The results demonstrate that our method outperforms the state-of-the-art unsupervised method and surpasses several supervised deep learning-based methods. Codes are available in https://github.com/DeepXuan/Dn-Dp