Use of needle track detection to quantify the displacement of stranded seeds following prostate brachytherapy

We aim to compute the movement of permanent stranded implant brachytherapy radioactive sources (seeds) in the prostate from the planned seed distribution to the intraoperative fluoroscopic distribution, and then to the postimplant computed tomography (CT) distribution. We present a novel approach to matching the seeds in these distributions to the plan by grouping the seeds into needle tracks. First, we identify the implantation axis using a sample consensus algorithm. Then, we use a network flow algorithm to group seeds into their needle tracks. Finally, we match the needles from the three stages using both their transverse plane location and the number of seeds per needle. We validated our approach on eight clinical prostate brachytherapy cases, having a total of 871 brachytherapy seeds distributed in 193 needles. For the intraoperative and postimplant data, 99.31% and 99.41% of the seeds were correctly assigned, respectively. For both the preplan to fluoroscopic and fluoroscopic to CT registrations, 100% of the needles were correctly matched. We show that there is an average intraoperative seed displacement of 4.94±2.42 mm and a further 2.97±1.81 mm of postimplant movement. This information reveals several directional trends and can be used for quality control, treatment planning, and intraoperative dosimetry that fuses ultrasound and fluoroscopy.     

基于MAP的超声图像分解去噪算法研究

超声图像中的斑点噪声,降低图像分辨率和对比度,不利于后续图像处理.本文基于最大后验概率（Maximum A Posteriori,MAP）推导出一种新的超声图像分解算法,将原始超声图像分解为无散斑真实图像和散斑图像.使用六组不同的参数值,对Field II仿真的超声图像进行分解试验,得出算法中比例参数对分解结果的影响规律.用该方法分解三幅人体超声图像,得到的真实图像平滑性好,且能较好的保留细节和边缘.本文提出的分解算法可用于超声图像的去噪,且分解得到的真实图像和散斑图像可用于特征提取、图像分割和图像分类等.     

Seed localization in Ultrasound and Registration to C-Arm Fluoroscopy Using Matched Needle Tracks for Prostate Brachytherapy

We propose a novel fiducial-free approach for the registration of C-arm fluoroscopy to 3-D ultrasound images of prostate brachytherapy implants to enable dosimetry. The approach involves the reliable detection of a subset of radioactive seeds from 3-D ultrasound, and the use of needle tracks in both ultrasound and fluoroscopy for registration. Seed detection in ultrasound is achieved through template matching in 3-D radio frequency ultrasound signals, followed by thresholding and spatial filtering. The resulting subset of seeds is registered to the complete reconstruction of the brachytherapy implant from multiple C-arm fluoroscopy views. To compensate for the deformation caused by the ultrasound probe, simulated warping is applied to the seed cloud from fluoroscopy. The magnitude of the applied warping is optimized within the registration process. The registration is performed in two stages. First, the needle track projections from fluoroscopy and ultrasound are matched. Only the seeds in the matched needles are then used as fiducials for point-based registration. We report results from a physical phantom with a realistic implant (average postregistration seed distance of 1.6 ± 1.2?mm) and from five clinical patient datasets (average error: 2.8 ± 1.5?mm over 128 detected seeds). We conclude that it is feasible to use RF ultrasound data, template matching, and spatial filtering to detect a reliable subset of brachytherapy seeds from ultrasound to enable registration to fluoroscopy for dosimetry.     

Sensorless Motion Planning for Medical Needle Insertion in Deformable Tissues

Minimally invasive medical procedures such as biopsies, anesthesia drug injections, and brachytherapy cancer treatments require inserting a needle to a specific target inside soft tissues. This is difficult because needle insertion displaces and deforms the surrounding soft tissues causing the target to move during the procedure. To facilitate physician training and preoperative planning for these procedures, we develop a needle insertion motion planning system based on an interactive simulation of needle insertion in deformable tissues and numerical optimization to reduce placement error. We describe a 2-D physically based, dynamic simulation of needle insertion that uses a finite-element model of deformable soft tissues and models needle cutting and frictional forces along the needle shaft. The simulation offers guarantees on simulation stability for mesh modifications and achieves interactive, real-time performance on a standard PC. Using texture mapping, the simulation provides visualization comparable to ultrasound images that the physician would see during the procedure. We use the simulation as a component of a sensorless planning algorithm that uses numerical optimization to compute needle insertion offsets that compensate for tissue deformations. We apply the method to radioactive seed implantation during permanent seed prostate brachytherapy to minimize seed placement error.      

Pubic arch detection in transrectal ultrasound guided prostatecancer therapy

New biopsy techniques, increased life expectancy, and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening have contributed to an increase in the reported incidence of prostate cancer. Among several treatment options available to the patients, transperineal prostate brachytherapy has emerged as a medically successful, cost-effective outpatient procedure for treating localized prostate cancer. Transperineal prostate brachytherapy employs transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) as the primary imaging modality to accurately preplan and subsequently execute the placement of radioactive seeds into the prostate. Under TRUS guidance, a needle (preloaded with radioactive seeds) is inserted through a template guide, through the perineum and into a predetermined prostate target. The pubic arch, formed by the central union of pelvic bones, is a potential barrier to the passage of these needles in the prostate. A critical aspect, therefore, in the planning and execution of the brachytherapy procedure is the accurate assessment of pubic arch interference (PAI) in relation to the prostate. Traditionally, the evaluation of PAI has involved computed tomography correlate scanning or crude subjective evaluations. In this paper, the authors describe a new method of assessing PAI by detecting the pubic arch via image processing on the TRUS images. The PAI detection (PAID) algorithm first uses a technique known as sticks to selectively enhance the contrast of linear features in ultrasound images. Next, the enhanced image is thresholded via percentile thresholding. Finally, the authors fit a parabola (a model for the pubic arch) recursively to the thresholded image. Their evaluation result from 15 cases indicates that the algorithm can successfully detect the pubic arch with 90% accuracy. Based on this study, the authors believe that detecting the pubic arch and assessing PAI can be done practically and more accurately in the clinical setting using TRUS rather than the current available methods     

Alignment of sparse freehand 3-D ultrasound with preoperative images of the liver using models of respiratory motion and deformation

We present a method for alignment of an interventional plan to optically tracked two-dimensional intraoperative ultrasound (US) images of the liver. Our clinical motivation is to enable the accurate transfer of information from three-dimensional preoperative imaging modalities [magnetic resonance (MR) or computed tomography (CT)] to intraoperative US to aid needle placement for thermal ablation of liver metastases. An initial rigid registration to intraoperative coordinates is obtained using a set of US images acquired at maximum exhalation. A preprocessing step is applied to both the preoperative images and the US images to produce evidence of corresponding structures. This yields two sets of images representing classification of regions as vessels. The registration then proceeds using these images. The preoperative images and plan are then warped to correspond to a single US slice acquired at an unknown point in the breathing cycle where the liver is likely to have moved and deformed relative to the preoperative image. Alignment is constrained using a patient-specific model of breathing motion and deformation. Target registration error is estimated by carrying out simulation experiments using resliced MR volumes to simulate real US and comparing the registration results to a "bronze-standard" registration performed on the full MR volume. Finally, the system is tested using real US and verified using visual inspection.     

一种InSAR建筑物图像仿真及高程反演方法

城市建筑区域叠掩、阴影严重,图像理解困难且干涉相位变化复杂紊乱,一直是InSAR处理的困难区域。SAR图像仿真能为图像理解和处理方法研究提供数据支撑,然而现有建筑区域SAR图像仿真方法大多无法获得具有相干性的干涉SAR图像对。该文提出了一种面向建筑区域的干涉SAR复图像对仿真方法,能够获得建筑的复数图像对、干涉相位图以及叠掩成分数目等信息,为城区干涉SAR处理及信息提取研究提供仿真数据支撑。同时,基于仿真中对相位变化规律的分析,提出叠掩区相位解缠时的基准确定方法,解决传统解缠方法面临的叠掩区域干涉相位不连续问题,进而反演建筑高程信息。最后,通过建模仿真结果与实际SAR图像和干涉相位的对比,验证了仿真方法的正确性,并对仿真及实际干涉相位进行解缠和高程反演处理,验证了该文高程反演方法的有效性。      

B-Mode Ultrasound Image Simulation in Deformable 3-D Medium

This paper presents an algorithm for fast image synthesis inside deformed volumes. Given the node displacements of a mesh and a reference 3-D image dataset of a predeformed volume, the method first maps the image pixels that need to be synthesized from the deformed configuration to the nominal predeformed configuration, where the pixel intensities are obtained easily through interpolation in the regular-grid structure of the reference voxel volume. This mapping requires the identification of the mesh element enclosing each pixel for every image frame. To accelerate this point location operation, a fast method of projecting the deformed mesh on image pixels is introduced in this paper. The method presented was implemented for ultrasound B-mode image simulation of a synthetic tissue phantom. The phantom deformation as a result of ultrasound probe motion was modeled using the finite element method. Experimental images of the phantom under deformation were then compared with the corresponding synthesized images using sum of squared differences and mutual information metrics. Both this quantitative comparison and a qualitative assessment show that realistic images can be synthesized using the proposed technique. An ultrasound examination system was also implemented to demonstrate that real-time image synthesis with the proposed technique can be successfully integrated into a haptic simulation.      

Feature-guided shape-based image interpolation

A feature-guided image interpolation scheme is presented. It is an effective and improved, shape-based interpolation method used for interpolating image slices in medical applications. The proposed method integrates feature line-segments to guide the shape-based method for better shape interpolation. An automatic method for finding these line segments is given. The proposed feature-guided shape-based method can manage translation, rotation and scaling situations when the slices have similar shapes. It can also interpolate intermediate shapes when the successive slices do not have similar shapes. This method is experimentally evaluated using artificial and real two-dimensional and three-dimensional data. The proposed method generated satisfactory interpolated results in these experiments. We demonstrate the practicality, effectiveness and reproducibility of the proposed method for interpolating medical images.     

基于渐进式生成对抗网络的舰船红外图像仿真

红外图像仿真在红外导引头设计、仿真训练中起到十分关键的作用。针对如何生成高分辨率、视觉特征可控的红外图像,提出了一种基于渐进式生成对抗网络的红外图像仿真方法。本文利用舰船模型的红外图像数据集训练了图像合成网络,输入随机特征向量,输出高分辨率的红外仿真图像;设计了图像编码网络,实现红外图像到特征向量的转换;利用Logistic回归方法,在特征向量域找到了控制红外图像角度特征的方向向量,并据此生成了不同角度的舰船模型仿真图像;最后通过均值哈希算法和平均结构相似性算法来定量评价仿真图像和真实图像的差异,实验结果表明仿真的红外图像和真实图像的相似度很高,可以为真实舰船的可控化红外图像仿真提供参考。     

Simulation of tissue atrophy using a topology preserving transformation model

We propose a method to simulate atrophy and other similar volumetric change effects on medical images. Given a desired level of atrophy, we find a dense warping deformation that produces the corresponding levels of volumetric loss on the labeled tissue using an energy minimization strategy. Simulated results on a real brain image indicate that the method generates realistic images of tissue loss. The method does not make assumptions regarding the mechanics of tissue deformation, and provides a framework where a pre-specified pattern of atrophy can readily be simulated. Furthermore, it provides exact correspondences between images prior and posterior to the atrophy that can be used to evaluate provisional image registration and atrophy quantification algorithms.     

Effects of video digitization in pubic arch interference assessment for prostate brachytherapy

Recently, it has been shown that prior to surgery a transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) study of the prostate and pubic arch can effectively determine pubic arch interference (PAI), a major stumbling block for the prostate brachytherapy (radioactive seed implantation) procedure. This PAI determination is currently being done with digital images taken directly from an ultrasound (US) machine. However, 70-75% of US machines used in prostate brachytherapy do not have a method to save or transfer digital image data for external use. To allow PAI assessment regardless of US platform and to keep costs to a minimum, we need to digitize the images from the US video output when there is no direct digital transfer capability. D/A and A/D conversions can introduce quantization error and other noises in these digitized images. The purpose of this work is to assess the image degradation caused by digitization and quantitatively evaluate whether after digitization it is still possible to accurately assess PAI. We used a PAI assessment algorithm (developed in previous research by our group) to predict the location of the pubic arch on both digital images and those captured after digitization. These predicted arch locations were compared to the "true" position of the pubic arch as established during surgery. Despite apparent image degradation due to the D/A and A/D conversions, we found no statistically significant difference between the accuracy of the predicted arch locations from the digitized images and those from the digital images. By demonstrating equally accurate determination of pubic arch locations using digital and digitized images, we conclude that TRUS-based PAI assessment can be easily and inexpensively performed in clinics where it is needed.     

基于星图模拟的星空目标提取

提出了一种将星图模拟技术应用于星空背景空间目标提取的方法,建立了地基光测设备的星图模拟模型,推导了光轴指向计算和星体到焦平面成像的坐标转换。利用模拟星图生成掩模,对实拍星图处理去除恒星背景。实验证明利用模拟星图能够有效去除恒星背景提取空间目标。     

Three-dimensional surface reconstruction using optical flow formedical imaging

The recovery of a three-dimensional (3-D) model from a sequence of two-dimensional (2-D) images is very useful in medical image analysis. Image sequences obtained from the relative motion between the object and the camera or the scanner contain more 3-D information than a single image. Methods to visualize the computed tomograms can be divided into two approaches: the surface rendering approach and the volume rendering approach. In this paper, a new surface rendering method using optical flow is proposed. Optical flow is the apparent motion in the image plane produced by the projection of real 3-D motion onto the 2-D image. The 3-D motion of an object can be recovered from the optical-flow field using additional constraints. By extracting the surface information from 3-D motion, it is possible to obtain an accurate 3-D model of the object. Both synthetic and real image sequences have been used to illustrate the feasibility of the proposed method. The experimental results suggest that the proposed method is suitable for the reconstruction of 3-D models from ultrasound medical images as well as other computed tomograms     

从多帧低分辨率图像序列中获取高分辨率图像的算法研究

从多帧略有位移的低分辨率图像中产生一帧具有精细结构的高分辨率图像是原来基于单帧插值算法无法解决的问题.本文提出了一种基于多帧的递归迭代算法,在得到与传统多帧算法相近效果的同时,大大节省了计算所需的存储空间.论文证明了该算法的收敛性,并得出当使用循环递归迭代时,可以得到理想的结果.计算机模拟给出了与理论分析一致的结果.     

一种利用Vega软件的长波红外图像仿真方法

利用真实红外图像作为输入,对其进行分割,划分为不同材质区域,然后使用Vega仿真软件得出各材质在不同天气、时间、季节成像条件下的以灰度形式表达的长波红外仿真结果,通过求解Vega软件仿真结果与辐射量之间的映射函数,得到在相应成像条件下的红外辐射量数据,用此结果代替真实红外图像相应材质区域辐射量均值,从而得到不同天气、时间、季节成像条件下的长波红外仿真图像。     

光强传输方程与图像插值融合的相位恢复

光强传输方程作为典型的相位恢复技术,在已知待测面光强分布与光强轴向微分时,可以通过求解该方程直接得到待测面的相位分布。强度微分可以通过采集沿传播方向的不同散焦面的光强信息以计算强度差分来估计,由此,散焦面的适当选择变得尤为重要。将光强传输方程与图像插值法相结合,在几何光学模型下描述采集的散焦面光强分布与聚焦面光强分布之间的关系,再利用图像插值法计算出模糊参数不同的散焦面的光强分布,由新得到的散焦图和采集的聚焦图代入光强传输方程以计算出相位。该方法只需要采集三幅强度图像,即可计算获得其他位置的强度图像,避免了采集设备的多次移动,也为某些特殊情况下无法获取适合位置的强度图像提供了一种解决途径。实验中搭建了一个实际的光强图像获取系统,所得结果验证了所提算法的有效性。     

基于虚拟光学的视觉显著目标可控放大重建

该文提出一种基于虚拟光学的视觉显著目标高分辨率可控放大重建方法。原始图像放置于虚拟光路物平面,首先通过衍射逆计算获得原始图像在虚拟衍射面的光波信号,再对虚拟衍射面光波用球面波照射后作正向衍射计算,通过改变观测平面位置可重建出不同放大率的原始图像。仿真测试结果表明,与一般的插值放大方法相比,所获得的放大后的图像特别是在显著性区域表示出良好的视觉感知效果。将包含人脸的低分辨率降质图像作为待重建信号,所重建人脸的显著性区域如眼睛、鼻子等比一般重建方法更清晰。用水平集方法结合显著图分割出原始图像中的局部显著区域并作放大重建和轮廓提取,轮廓表现出良好的光滑性。     

基于压缩感知的图像处理与重构方法

针对图像修复和插值等图像处理问题进行研究,通过将图像修复和插值模型在压缩感知(CS)理论的框架下进行转换,建立了新的图像修复和插值模型,该模型与CS理论中的重构模型相对应。对此转化得到的重构问题,基于图像在复数小波变换上的稀疏性,利用迭代硬阈值方法求解重构模型,进而获得重构图像。仿真和实测数据处理结果验证本文方法的有效性。     

Comparison of block matching and differential methods for motion analysis of the carotid artery wall from ultrasound images

Motion of the carotid artery wall is important for the quantification of arterial elasticity and contractility and can be estimated with a number of techniques. In this paper, a framework for quantitative evaluation of motion analysis techniques from B-mode ultrasound images is introduced. Six synthetic sequences were produced using 1) a real image corrupted by Gaussian and speckle noise of 25 and 15 dB, and 2) the ultrasound simulation package Field II. In both cases, a mathematical model was used, which simulated the motion of the arterial wall layers and the surrounding tissue, in the radial and longitudinal directions. The performance of four techniques, namely optical flow (OF (HS)), weighted least-squares optical flow (OF (LK(WLS))), block matching (BM), and affine block motion model (ABMM), was investigated in the context of this framework. The average warping indices were lowest for OF (LK(WLS)) (1.75 pixels), slightly higher for ABMM (2.01 pixels), and highest for BM (6.57 pixels) and OF (HS) (11.57 pixels). Due to its superior performance, OF (LK(WLS)) was used to quantify motion of selected regions of the arterial wall in real ultrasound image sequences of the carotid artery. Preliminary results indicate that OF (LK(WLS)) is promising, because it efficiently quantified radial, longitudinal, and shear strains in healthy adults and diseased subjects.