AN INTERACTIVE TECHNIQUE FOR 3-DIMENSIONAL IMAGE REGISTRATION - VALIDATION FOR PET, SPECT, MRI AND CT BRAIN STUDIES

A multipurpose three-dimensional registration technique was validated with PET, SPECT, CT and MRI scans, which had been obtained under norma l clinical conditions. In contrast to fully automated procedures, this coregistration method is highly interactive, which has the advantage that it does not impose rigid restrictions by data type and by alterat ions in normal anatomy or brain function resulting from disease. Metho ds: Basically, a computer program provides a variety of tools to exami ne the accuracy of coregistration visually and to specify necessary tr anslations and rotations in all three dimensions. Tools and criteria t o accept coregistration were applied according to a standardized proto col. Reproducibility was assessed with five independent users on nine pairs of image sets. In two pairs of these image sets, coregistration was repeated three times by each user. Results: Depending on the resol ution of the images involved, the reproducibility of translation dista nces ranged from 0.32 to 2.22 mm (s.d.) and of rotation angles from 0. 32 to 1.70 degrees. It was always much smaller than the point-spread f ull-width half maximum of the device with the lower resolution. The ac curacy of coregistration was examined using two arbitrarily misplaced image sets. Interindividual and intraindividual variance were similar, which suggested that the influence of subjectivity was not significan t. Average displacements after coregistration were 0.43 and 0.29 mm or less for PET and MRI data, respectively, which indicated the absence of a systematic bias. Conclusion: The results indicate the high reprod ucibility and accuracy of this three-dimensional coregistration techni que, which is comparable or superior to those of automated techniques and methods based on external artificial landmarks.