System and method for automatic magnetic resonance volume composition and normalization

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9147250-B2
Application number	US-201213616548-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 14, 2012
Priority date	Sep 15, 2011
Publication date	Sep 29, 2015
Grant date	Sep 29, 2015

Abstract

A method and system for automatic magnetic resonance (MR) volume composition and normalization is disclosed. In one embodiment, a plurality of MR volumes is received. A composite MR volume is generated from the plurality of MR volumes. Volume normalization of the composite MR volume is then performed to correct intensity inhomogeneity in the composite MR volume. The volume normalization of the composite MR volume may be performed using template MR volume or without a template MR volume.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for automatic magnetic resonance (MR) volume composition and normalization comprising:
receiving a plurality of MR volumes;
generating a composite MR volume from the plurality of MR volumes; and
performing volume normalization of the composite MR volume to correct intensity inhomogeneity in the composite MR volume, wherein performing volume normalization of the composite MR volume comprises:
detecting key slices from a plurality of slices in the composite MR volume;
aligning each of the plurality of slices in the composite MR volume to a corresponding slice of a template MR volume based on the key slices; and
adjusting voxel intensities in each of the plurality of slices of the composite MR volume based on the corresponding slice of the template MR volume.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the composite MR volume comprises:
generating the composite MR volume from the plurality of MR volumes without normalizing the plurality of MR volumes prior to generating the composite MR volume.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein generating the composite MR volume comprises:
obtaining world coordinates for each of the plurality MR volumes;
locating overlapping regions of adjacent MR volumes of the plurality of MR volumes based on the world coordinates; and
connecting the overlapping regions of the adjacent MR volumes.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein connecting the overlapping regions in the adjacent MR volumes comprises:
detecting corresponding voxels in the overlapping regions of the adjacent MR volumes; and
blending intensities of the corresponding voxels in the overlapping regions of the adjacent MR volumes.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein detecting corresponding voxels in the overlapping regions of the adjacent MR volume comprises:
maximizing a normalized cross-correlation between the overlapping regions of the adjacent MR volumes.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein adjusting voxel intensities in each of the plurality of slices of the composite MR volume comprises:
adjusting voxel intensities of voxels in each of the plurality of slices of the composite MR volume such that an intensity histogram of each of the plurality of slices of the composite MR volume matches an intensity histogram of the corresponding slice of the template MR volume.

7. A method for automatic magnetic resonance (MR) volume composition and normalization comprising:
receiving a plurality of MR volumes;
generating a composite MR volume from the plurality of MR volumes; and
performing volume normalization of the composite MR volume to correct intensity inhomogeneity in the composite MR volume, wherein performing volume normalization of the composite MR volume comprises:
normalizing slices of the composite MR volume along a first axis based on approximated muscle intensity in each of the slices along the first axis, and
normalizing slices of the composite MR volume along a second axis based on approximated muscle intensity in each of the slices along the second axis.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein normalizing slices of the composite MR volume along the first axis comprises:
approximating the muscle intensity in each slice of the composite MR volume along the first axis as the median intensity of voxels in that slice; and
adjusting voxel intensities in each slice of the composite MR volume along the first axis so that the approximated muscle intensity is constant along the first axis.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein adjusting voxel intensities in each slice of the composite MR volume along the first axis comprises:
linearly scaling a voxel intensity histogram of each slice of the composite MR volume along the first axis.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein normalizing slices of the composite MR volume along the second axis comprises:
approximating the muscle intensity in each slice of the composite MR volume along the second axis as the median intensity of voxels in that slice; and
adjusting voxel intensities in each slice of the composite MR volume along the second axis so that the approximated muscle intensity is constant along the second axis.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein adjusting voxel intensities in each slice of the composite MR volume along the second axis comprises:
linearly scaling a voxel intensity histogram of each slice of the composite MR volume along the second axis.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the slices of the composite MR volume along the first axis are coronal slices and the slices of the composite MR volume along the second axis are transverse slices.

13. The method of claim 7 , wherein the first axis is an anterior-posterior axis and the second axis is a vertical axis.

14. An apparatus for automatic magnetic resonance (MR) volume composition and normalization comprising:
a memory storing computer program instructions; and
a processor communicatively coupled to the memory, the processor configured to execute the computer program instructions, which, when executed on the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
receiving a plurality of MR volumes;
generating a composite MR volume from the plurality of MR volumes; and
performing volume normalization of the composite MR volume to correct intensity inhomogeneity in the composite MR volume, wherein performing volume normalization of the composite MR volume comprises:
detecting key slices from a plurality of slices in the composite MR volume;
aligning each of the plurality of slices in the composite MR volume to a corresponding slice of a template MR volume based on the key slices; and
adjusting voxel intensities in each of the plurality of slices of the composite MR volume based on the corresponding slice of the template MR volume.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein generating the composite MR volume comprises:
generating the composite MR volume from the plurality of MR volumes without normalizing the plurality of MR volumes prior to generating the composite MR volume.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein generating the composite MR volume comprises:
obtaining world coordinates for each of the plurality MR volumes;
locating overlapping regions of adjacent MR volumes of the plurality of MR volumes based on the world coordinates; and
connecting the overlapping regions of the adjacent MR volumes.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein connecting the overlapping regions in the adjacent MR volumes comprises:
detecting corresponding voxels in the overlapping regions of the adjacent MR volumes; and
blending intensities of the corresponding voxels in the overlapping regions of the adjacent MR volumes.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein detecting corresponding voxels in the overlapping regions of the adjacent MR volume comprises:
maximizing a normalized cross-correlation between the overlapping regions of the adjacent MR volumes.

19. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein adjusting voxel intensities in each of the plurality of slices of the composite MR volume comprises:
adjusting voxel intensities of voxels in each of the plurality of slices of the composite MR volume such that an intensity histogram of each of the plurality of slices of the composite MR volume matches an intensity histogram of the corresponding slice of the template MR volume.

20. An apparatus for automatic magnetic resonance (MR) volume composition and normalization comprising:
a memory storing computer program instructions; and
a processor communicativ

Assignees

• Liu David
• Zhou Shaohua Kevin
• Gall Peter
• Comaniciu Dorin
• De Oliveira Andre
• Kiefer Berthold
• Siemens Ag

Inventors

• Liu David
• Zhou Shaohua Kevin
• Gall Peter
• Comaniciu Dorin
• De Oliveira Andre
• Kiefer Berthold

Classifications

• G06T7/0034 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06T2207/30004

  Biomedical image processing · CPC title

• A61B5/055

  involving electronic [EMR] or nuclear [NMR] magnetic resonance, e.g. magnetic resonance imaging · CPC title

• G01R33/5608

  Data processing and visualization specially adapted for MR, e.g. for feature analysis and pattern recognition on the basis of measured MR data, segmentation of measured MR data, edge contour detection on the basis of measured MR data, for enhancing measured MR data in terms of signal-to-noise ratio by means of noise filtering or apodization, for enhancing measured MR data in terms of resolution by means for deblurring, windowing, zero filling, or generation of gray-scaled images, colour-coded images or images displaying vectors instead of pixels (image data processing or generation, in general G06T) · CPC title

• G01R33/565

  Correction of image distortions, e.g. due to magnetic field inhomogeneities · CPC title