TY - CHAP A1 - Pietrzyk, Uwe A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Beyer, Thomas T1 - Investigation of fusion strategies of multi-modality images T2 - IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record N2 - Presenting images from different modalities seems to be a trivial task considering the challenges to obtain registered images as a pre-requisite for image fusion. In combined tomographs like PET/CT, image registration is intrinsic. However, informative image fusion mandates careful preparation owing to the large amount of information that is presented to the observer. In complex imaging situations it is required to provide tools that are easy to handle and still powerful enough to help the observer discriminating important details from background patterns. We investigated several options for color tables applied to brain and non-brain images obtained with PET, MRI and CT. KW - Positron emission tomography KW - Biomedical imaging KW - Medical diagnostic imaging KW - Image fusion KW - Computed tomography KW - Image registration KW - Visualization KW - Table lookup KW - Humans Y1 - 2004 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1109/NSSMIC.2004.1462740 VL - 4 SP - 2399 EP - 2401 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Beyer, Thomas A1 - Weigert, Markus A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Quick, Harald H. A1 - Müller, Stefan P. A1 - Pietrzyk, Uwe A1 - Vogt, Florian A1 - Martinez, M.J. A1 - Bockisch, Andreas T1 - Towards MR-based attenuation correction for whole-body PET/MR imaging T2 - The Journal of Nuclear Medicine KW - Kernspintomografie KW - Positronen-Emissions-Tomografie KW - Bildgebendes Verfahren KW - Schwächung Y1 - 2006 UR - http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/47/suppl_1/384P.1.abstract VL - 47 IS - Suppl. 1 SP - 384P ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Weigert, Markus A1 - Pietrzyk, Uwe A1 - Müller, Stefan P. A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Beyer, Thomas T1 - Whole-body PET/CT imaging BT - Combining software- and hardware-based co-registration JF - Zeitschrift für Medizinische Physik N2 - Aim Combined whole-body (WB) PET/CT imaging provides better overall co-registration compared to separate CT and PET. However, in clinical routine local PET-CT mis-registration cannot be avoided. Thus, the reconstructed PET tracer distribution may be biased when using the misaligned CT transmission data for CT-based attenuation correction (CT-AC). We investigate the feasibility of retrospective co-registration techniques to align CT and PET images prior to CT-AC, thus improving potentially the quality of combined PET/CT imaging in clinical routine. Methods First, using a commercial software registration package CT images were aligned to the uncorrected PET data by rigid and non-rigid registration methods. Co-registration accuracy of both alignment approaches was assessed by reviewing the PET tracer uptake patterns (visual, linked cursor display) following attenuation correction based on the original and co-registered CT. Second, we investigated non-rigid registration based on a prototype ITK implementation of the B-spline algorithm on a similar targeted MR-CT registration task, there showing promising results. Results Manual rigid, landmark-based co-registration introduced unacceptable misalignment, in particular in peripheral areas of the whole-body images. Manual, non-rigid landmark-based co-registration prior to CT-AC was successful with minor loco-regional distortions. Nevertheless, neither rigid nor non-rigid automatic co-registration based on the Mutual Information image to image metric succeeded in co-registering the CT and noAC-PET images. In contrast to widely available commercial software registration our implementation of an alternative automated, non-rigid B-spline co-registration technique yielded promising results in this setting with MR-CT data. Conclusion In clinical PET/CT imaging, retrospective registration of CT and uncorrected PET images may improve the quality of the AC-PET images. As of today no validated and clinically viable commercial registration software is in routine use. This has triggered our efforts in pursuing new approaches to a validated, non-rigid co-registration algorithm applicable to whole-body PET/CT imaging of which first results are presented here. This approach appears suitable for applications in retrospective WB-PET/CT alignment. Ziel Kombinierte PET/CT-Bildgebung ermöglicht verbesserte Koregistrierung von PET- und CT-Daten gegenüber separat akquirierten Bildern. Trotzdem entstehen in der klinischen Anwendung lokale Fehlregistrierungen, die zu Fehlern in der rekonstruierten PET- Tracerverteilung führen können, falls die unregistrierten CT-Daten zur Schwächungskorrektur (AC) der Emissionsdaten verwendet werden. Wir untersuchen daher die Anwendung von Bildregistrierungsalgorithmen vor der CT-basierten AC zur Verbesserung der PET-Aufnahmen. Methoden Mittels einer kommerziellen Registrierungssoftware wurden die CT-Daten eines PET/CT- Tomographen durch landmarken- und intensitätsbasierte rigide (starre) und nicht-rigide Registrierungsverfahren räumlich an die unkorrigierten PET-Emissionsdaten angepasst und zur AC verwendet. Zur Bewertung wurden die Tracerverteilungen in den PET-Bildern (vor AC, CT-AC, CT-AC nach Koregistrierung) visuell und mit Hilfe korrelierter Fadenkreuze verglichen. Zusätzlich untersuchten wir die ITK-Implementierung der bekannten B-spline basierten, nicht-rigiden Registrierungsansätze im Hinblick auf ihre Verwendbarkeit für die multimodale PET/CT-Ganzkörperregistrierung. Ergebnisse Mittels landmarkenbasierter, nicht-rigider Registrierung konnte die Tracerverteilung in den PET-Daten lokal verbessert werden. Landmarkenbasierte rigide Registrierung führte zu starker Fehlregistrierung in entfernten Körperregionen. Automatische rigide und nicht-rigide Registrierung unter Verwendung der Mutual-Information-Ähnlichkeitsmetrik versagte auf allen verwendeten Datensätzen. Die automatische Registrierung mit B-spline-Funktionen zeigte vielversprechende Resultate in der Anwendung auf einem ähnlich gelagerten CT–MR-Registrierungsproblem. Fazit Retrospektive, nicht-rigide Registrierung unkorrigierter PET- und CT-Aufnahmen aus kombinierten Aufnahmensystemen vor der AC kann die Qualität von PET-Aufnahmen im klinischen Einsatz verbessern. Trotzdem steht bis heute im klinischen Alltag keine validierte, automatische Registrierungssoftware zur Verfügung. Wir verfolgen dazu Ansätze für validierte, nicht-rigide Bildregistrierung für den klinischen Einsatz und präsentieren erste Ergebnisse. KW - PET/CT KW - combined imaging KW - image co-registration KW - attenuation KW - correction KW - Positronen-Emissions-Tomografie KW - Computertomografie KW - Bildgebendes Verfahren KW - Registrierung KW - Schwächung Y1 - 2008 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.zemedi.2007.07.004 VL - 18 IS - 1 SP - 59 EP - 66 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Pietrzyk, Uwe A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Beyer, Thomas T1 - Fusion strategies in multi-modality imaging T2 - Medical Physics, Vol 2. Proceedings of the jointly held Congresses: ICMP 2005, 14th International Conference of Medical Physics of the International Organization for Medical Physics (IOMP), the European Federation of Organizations in Medical Physics (EFOMP) and the German Society of Medical Physics (DGMP) ; BMT 2005, 39th Annual Congress of the German Society for Biomedical Engineering (DGBMT) within VDE ; 14th - 17th September 2005, Nuremberg, Germany KW - Bildgebendes Verfahren KW - Registrierung Y1 - 2005 SP - 1446 EP - 1447 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Weigert, Markus A1 - Beyer, Thomas A1 - Quick, Harald H. A1 - Pietrzyk, Uwe A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Müller, Stefan P. T1 - Generation of a MRI reference data set for the validation of automatic, non-rigid image co-registration algorithms T2 - Nuklearmedizin KW - Kernspintomografie KW - Referenzdaten KW - Registrierung KW - Algorithmus Y1 - 2007 VL - 46 IS - 2 SP - A116 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Weigert, Markus A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Quick, Harald H. A1 - Müller, Stefan P. A1 - Pietrzyk, Uwe A1 - Beyer, Thomas T1 - Template for MR-based attenuation correction for whole-body PET/MR imaging T2 - Nuklearmedizin KW - Kernspintomografie KW - Positronen-Emissions-Tomografie KW - Bildgebendes Verfahren KW - Schwächung Y1 - 2007 VL - 46 IS - 2 SP - A115 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Beyer, Thomas A1 - Weigert, Markus A1 - Quick, Harald H. A1 - Pietrzyk, Uwe A1 - Vogt, Florian A1 - Palm, Christoph A1 - Antoch, Gerald A1 - Müller, Stefan P. A1 - Bockisch, Andreas T1 - MR-based attenuation correction for torso-PET/MR imaging BT - pitfalls in mapping MR to CT data JF - European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging N2 - Purpose MR-based attenuation correction (AC) will become an integral part of combined PET/MR systems. Here, we propose a toolbox to validate MR-AC of clinical PET/MRI data sets. Methods Torso scans of ten patients were acquired on a combined PET/CT and on a 1.5-T MRI system. MR-based attenuation data were derived from the CT following MR–CT image co-registration and subsequent histogram matching. PET images were reconstructed after CT- (PET/CT) and MR-based AC (PET/MRI). Lesion-to-background (L/B) ratios were estimated on PET/CT and PET/MRI. Results MR–CT histogram matching leads to a mean voxel intensity difference in the CT- and MR-based attenuation images of 12% (max). Mean differences between PET/MRI and PET/CT were 19% (max). L/B ratios were similar except for the lung where local misregistration and intensity transformation leads to a biased PET/MRI. Conclusion Our toolbox can be used to study pitfalls in MR-AC. We found that co-registration accuracy and pixel value transformation determine the accuracy of PET/MRI. KW - PET/MRI KW - PET/CT KW - Attenuation correction KW - Kernspintomografie KW - Positronen-Emissions-Tomografie KW - Schwächung Y1 - 2008 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-008-0734-0 VL - 35 IS - 6 SP - 1142 EP - 1146 ER -