Quasi-rigid image registration for DCE-MRI

描述(由申请人提供)：动态对比增强磁共振成像(DCE-MRI)生物标记物在现代临床中作为治疗反应的早期指标显示出巨大的前景。因此，它们在当前的个体化医疗领域中具有不断演变的作用。然而，它们在横断面、同期或纵向研究中的应用仍然存在挑战-在这些研究中，将扫描内患者运动或扫描仪上重新定位引起的误差与这些生物标记物反映的治疗引起的解剖或功能变化脱钩是至关重要的。因此，迫切需要能够快速但可靠地获得DCE-MRI生物标记物的工具。这项拟议工作的目标是开发、实施和验证三维图像配准技术，以便能够从临床DCE-MRI快速获得与疾病相关的生物标记物。重点放在受试者体内涉及刚性(骨)和非刚性(软组织)组件的身体区域的解剖图像的对齐上。在我们创新的注册方案中，预先确定的组件，如骨骼，以刚性方式变形，而软组织以非刚性方式变形。因此，我们假设，与当前临床使用的技术以及最先进的注册方法相比，我们的方法将提供更好的患者重新定位建模。在我们的具体目标中，我们将：(1)开发准刚性的、对象内的MR图像配准方法，以及(2)在回顾的背景下，使用成年软组织肉瘤患者的MR图像来验证该配准方法。基于计算机和人工观察者将被用来比较所提出的方法与传统的刚性和非刚性配准方法的性能。设计了一种新的用于图像配准优点的放射学评分系统，并将进行测试。注册方法将作为一种开放源码技术开发，便于分发。DCE-MRI生物标记物目前正作为几种新药物治疗的临床试验的替代终点进行评估。建议的注册方法将使DCE-MRI生物标记物在治疗期间的快速定量变化分析成为可能。医生将能够利用这些信息根据患者的个人需求定制治疗策略。在此背景下，本提案中开发的技术适用于广泛类别的人类疾病，例如肿瘤(例如肉瘤、头颈癌等)或肌肉骨骼疾病(例如关节炎等)。这项工作是与专门从事软组织肉瘤临床管理的外科肿瘤学家Robert Canter、擅长临床MRI方案设计和图像分析的MRI物理学家Michael Buonocore、具有软组织肉瘤专业知识的临床放射科医生Robert Boutin和癌症成像生物标记物开发专家Wayne Monsky密切合作的。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Dynamic-contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) biomarkers are displaying significant promise as early indicators of therapeutic response in the modern clinic. As a consequence, they possess an evolving role in the current realm of individualized medicine. Challenges remain however regarding their application in cross-sectional contemporaneous or longitudinal studies - it is critical in these studies to decouple errors due to intra-scan patient motion or repositioning on the scanner from anatomical or functional changes occurring due to treatment that these biomarkers reflect. Tools that are capable of rapid, but reliable derivation of DCE-MRI biomarkers are therefore urgently needed. The GOAL of this proposed work is to develop, implement and validate three-dimensional image registration technology for enabling the rapid derivation of disease-associated biomarkers from clinical DCE-MRI. The focus is on the alignment of intra-subject anatomical images of body regions that involve both rigid (bone) and non-rigid (soft tissue) components. In our innovative registration scheme, pre-determined components such as bones deform in a rigid manner while soft tissue warps non-rigidly. We HYPOTHESIZE therefore that our method will provide better modeling of patient repositioning compared to currently clinically used technologies as well as state-of-the-art registration methods. In our SPECIFIC AIMS, we will: (1) develop the quasi-rigid, intra-subject registration method for MR image alignment, and (2) validate the registration method using MR images of adult patients with soft tissue sarcoma in a retrospective setting. Both computer-based and human observers will be used to compare the performance of the proposed method against conventional rigid and non-rigid registration methods. A novel system for radiologic scoring of the merits of image registration is devised and will be tested. The registration method will be developed as an open-source technique allowing easy distribution. DCE-MRI biomarkers are currently being evaluated as surrogate end-points in clinical trials of several novel drug treatments. The proposed registration method will enable rapid quantitative change analyses of DCE-MRI biomarkers over the treatment period. Physicians will be able to use this information to tailor therapeutic strategies according to the individual requirements of their patients. In this context, techniques developed in this proposal are applicable to a broad class of human diseases, e.g., oncologic (e.g., sarcomas, head and neck cancer, etc) or musculoskeletal disease (e.g., arthritis, etc). This work is a close collaboration with Robert Canter, a surgical oncologist who specializes in the clinical management of soft tissue sarcoma, Michael Buonocore, an MRI physicist whose expertise lies in clinical MRI protocol design and image analysis, Robert Boutin, a clinical radiologist with expertise in soft tissue sarcoma and consultant Wayne Monsky, an expert in cancer imaging biomarker development.