Method of automatic registration of images

• US 6,714,668 B1
• Filed: 08/30/2000
• Issued: 03/30/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: GE Medical Systems Norway AS (General Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: GE Medical Systems Norway AS (General Electric Company)
• Inventors: Launay, Laurent, Vaillant, Régis, Maurincomme, Eric, Kerrien, Erwan
• Primary Examiner(s): Boudreau, Leo
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lu, Tom Y.
• Application Number:
  US09/651,035
• Time in Patent Office: 1,308 Days
• Field of Search: 382/128, 382/130-134
• US Class Current: 382/130
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30101 Blood vessel; Artery; Vein; Vascular
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 3/02 Affine transformations for image registration G06T3/147; for image mosaicing G06T3/4038
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/32 using correlation-based methods
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/38 Registration of image sequences

Abstract

Method of automatic registration of two- and three-dimensional angiography images by comparison of a two-dimensional digital subtracted angiography image with data on a three-dimensional image reconstructed from rotational angiography sequences, in which a field of distortions in the image is estimated, a conical projection matrix is estimated and an approximation is made of a rigid transformation in space equal to the difference between an initial registration based on the field of distortions and on the conical projection matrix and a perfect registration.

Claims

1. A method of automatic registration of two- and three-dimensional angiography images by comparison of a two-dimensional digital subtracted angiography image with data on a three-dimensional image reconstructed from rotational angiography sequences, in which a field of distortions in at least one of the two-dimensional image and the three-dimensional image is estimated, a conical projection matrix is estimated and an approximation is made of a rigid transformation in space equal to the difference between an initial registration based on the field of distortions and on the conical projection matrix and a perfect registration, the rigid transformation comprising a translation part and a rotation part, an approximation is made of the translation part by considering the rotation part as known, the optimal transformation being attained when the correlation of the digital subtracted angiography image and the reconstructed three-dimensional image data is at a maximum.

2. The method according to claim 1, in which it is assumed that the residual registration error is due to a positioning error on translation and on rotation of the reconstructed three-dimensional image in the mark of an imaging means.

3. The method according to claim 2, in which the difference between the data on the reconstructed three-dimensional image and the two-dimensional digital subtracted angiography image is considered due to a slight displacement following a rigid transformation, and the rigid transformation is determined by a modified optical flux technique.

4. The method according to claim 1 in which the data on the reconstructed three-dimensional image comprises a two-dimensional image obtained by conical projection of maximum intensity or by addition of the values of voxels of the three-dimensional reconstructed image.

5. The method according to claim 2 in which the data on the reconstructed three-dimensional image comprises a two-dimensional image obtained by conical projection of maximum intensity or by addition of the values of voxels of the three-dimensional reconstructed image.

6. The method according to claim 3 in which the data on the reconstructed three-dimensional image comprises a two-dimensional image obtained by conical projection of maximum intensity or by addition of the values of voxels of the three-dimensional reconstructed image.

7. The method according to claim 4, in which, on each displacement of the digital subtracted angiography image, the new two-dimensional image is calculated from the old two-dimensional image, without any new calculation of projection of the reconstructed three-dimensional image.

8. The method according to claim 5, in which, on each displacement of the digital subtracted angiography image, the new two-dimensional image is calculated from the old two-dimensional image, without any new calculation of projection of the reconstructed three-dimensional image.

9. The method according to claim 6, in which on each displacement of the digital subtracted angiographiy image, the new two-dimensional image is calculated from the old two-dimensional image, without any new calculation of projection of the reconstructed three-dimensional image.

10. The method according to claim 1 in which the initial registration is given by a marker unit of known three-dimensional position.

11. The method according to claim 2 in which the initial registration is given by a marker unit of known three-dimensional position.

12. The method according to claim 3 in which the initial registration is given by a marker unit of known three-dimensional position.

13. The method according to claim 4 in which the initial registration is given by a marker unit of known three-dimensional position.

14. The method according to claim 7 in which the initial registration is given by a marker unit of known three-dimensional position.

15. The method according to claim 1 in which the initial registration is given by calibration of the angiography machine.

16. The method according to claim 2 in which the initial registration is given by calibration of the angiography machine.

17. The method according to claim 3 in which the initial registration is given by calibration of the angiography machine.

18. The method according to claim 4 in which the initial registration is given by calibration of the angiography machine.

19. The method according to claim 7 in which the initial registration is given by calibration of the angiography machine.