Elastic matching of diffusion tensor images

In this paper, we discuss matching of magnetic resonance, diffusion tensor (DT) images of the human brain. Issues concerned with matching and transfor ming these complex images are discussed. In particular, we outline a; metho d for preserving the intrinsic orientation of the data during nonrigid warp s of the image and a number of similarity measures are proposed, based on t he DT itself, on the DT deviatoric, and on indices derived from the DT. Eac h measure is used to drive an elastic matching algorithm applied to the tas k of registration of 3D images of the human brain. The performance of the v arious similarity measures is compared empirically by the use of several qu ality of match measures computed over a pair of matched images. Results ind icate that the best matches are obtained from a Euclidean difference measur e using the full DT. (C) 2000 Academic Press.