Automated registration and fusion of functional and anatomical MRI for navigated neurosurgery

A procedure for acquisition, automated registration and fusion of functional and anatomical magnetic resonance images (MRI) is presented and validated. The technique is based upon the acquisition of high-resolution anatomical slices at the same spatial locations as functional images (5 slices). The accuracy of registration of these slices and high-resolution 3D MRI volumes (MP-RAGE imaging) was quantified using adapted data originating from the Vanderbilt retrospective registration project (8 patients). Selecting a subset of slices from that data, the small number of images available from fMRI acquisition was taken into account. Quantitative analysis showed no loss of accuracy caused by the reduced number of slices used for registration. For real patient data, fMRI were fused with MP-RAGE images, thus integrating anatomical images with information about locations of functional areas. Via a case study, the benefits of the described approach for intraoperative navigation using an operating microscope (MKM, Zeiss) are demonstrated.     «

A procedure for acquisition, automated registration and fusion of functional and anatomical magnetic resonance images (MRI) is presented and validated. The technique is based upon the acquisition of high-resolution anatomical slices at the same spatial locations as functional images (5 slices). The accuracy of registration of these slices and high-resolution 3D MRI volumes (MP-RAGE imaging) was quantified using adapted data originating from the Vanderbilt retrospective registration project (8 pa...     »