Two sets of images were created to evaluate deformable image registration accuracy. The first set contains CT, T1-, and T2-weighted images from a porcine phantom. The phantom was implanted with ten 0.35 mm gold markers and then immobilized in a plastic container with movable dividers. The porcine phantom was compressed in 4 different ways and images were acquired in each position. The markers were visible on the CT scans but not the MR scans due to the selected voxel size. Therefore, the markers do not interfere with the registration between MR images and the marker locations can be obtained from the CT images to determine accuracy. The second set of images are synthetic images derived from 28 head and neck squamous cell carcinoma patients who had pre-, mid-, and post-radiotherapy treatment MR scans. From these patients, inter- and intra-patient models were created. Four synthetic pre-treatment images were created by using the inter-patient model on a selected template patient. Four synthetic post-treatment images were created for each synthetic pre-treatment image using the intra-patient model.
Rachel B. Ger, Jinzhong Yang, Yao Ding, Megan C. Jacobsen, Carlos E. Cardenas, Clifton D. Fuller, Rebecca M. Howell, Heng Li, R. Jason Stafford, Shouhao Zhou, Laurence E. Court
