Three-dimensional warping registration of the pelvis and prostate

We are investigating interventional MRI guided radiofrequency (RF) thermal ablation for the minimally invasive treatment of prostate cancer. Among many potential applications of registration, we wish to compare registered MR images acquired before and immediately after RF ablation in order to determine whether a tumor is adequately treated. Warping registration is desired to correct for potential deformations of the pelvic region and movement of the prostate. We created a two-step, three-dimensional (3D) registration algorithm using mutual information and thin plate spline (TPS) warping for MR images. First, automatic rigid body registration was used to capture the global transformation. Second, local warping registration was applied. Interactively placed control points were automatically optimized by maximizing the mutual information of corresponding voxels in small volumes of interest and by using a 3D TPS to express the deformation throughout the image volume. Images were acquired from healthy volunteers in different conditions simulating potential applications. A variety of evaluation methods showed that warping consistently improved registration for volume pairs whenever patient position or condition was purposely changed between acquisitions. A TPS transformation based on 180 control points generated excellent warping throughout the pelvis following rigid body registration. The prostate centroid displacement for a typical volume pair was reduced from 3.4 mm to 0.6 mm when warping was added.