Shangjie Ren1, Wendy Hara2, Lei Wang2, Mark K Buyyounouski2, Quynh-Thu Le2, Lei Xing2, Ruijiang Li3. 1. Tianjin Key Laboratory of Process Measurement and Control, School of Electrical Engineering and Automation, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China; Department of Radiation Oncology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California. 2. Department of Radiation Oncology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California. 3. Department of Radiation Oncology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California. Electronic address: rli2@stanford.edu.
Abstract
PURPOSE: To develop a reliable method to estimate electron density based on anatomic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain. METHODS AND MATERIALS: We proposed a unifying multi-atlas approach for electron density estimation based on standard T1- and T2-weighted MRI. First, a composite atlas was constructed through a voxelwise matching process using multiple atlases, with the goal of mitigating effects of inherent anatomic variations between patients. Next we computed for each voxel 2 kinds of conditional probabilities: (1) electron density given its image intensity on T1- and T2-weighted MR images; and (2) electron density given its spatial location in a reference anatomy, obtained by deformable image registration. These were combined into a unifying posterior probability density function using the Bayesian formalism, which provided the optimal estimates for electron density. We evaluated the method on 10 patients using leave-one-patient-out cross-validation. Receiver operating characteristic analyses for detecting different tissue types were performed. RESULTS: The proposed method significantly reduced the errors in electron density estimation, with a mean absolute Hounsfield unit error of 119, compared with 140 and 144 (P<.0001) using conventional T1-weighted intensity and geometry-based approaches, respectively. For detection of bony anatomy, the proposed method achieved an 89% area under the curve, 86% sensitivity, 88% specificity, and 90% accuracy, which improved upon intensity and geometry-based approaches (area under the curve: 79% and 80%, respectively). CONCLUSION: The proposed multi-atlas approach provides robust electron density estimation and bone detection based on anatomic MRI. If validated on a larger population, our work could enable the use of MRI as a primary modality for radiation treatment planning.
PURPOSE: To develop a reliable method to estimate electron density based on anatomic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain. METHODS AND MATERIALS: We proposed a unifying multi-atlas approach for electron density estimation based on standard T1- and T2-weighted MRI. First, a composite atlas was constructed through a voxelwise matching process using multiple atlases, with the goal of mitigating effects of inherent anatomic variations between patients. Next we computed for each voxel 2 kinds of conditional probabilities: (1) electron density given its image intensity on T1- and T2-weighted MR images; and (2) electron density given its spatial location in a reference anatomy, obtained by deformable image registration. These were combined into a unifying posterior probability density function using the Bayesian formalism, which provided the optimal estimates for electron density. We evaluated the method on 10 patients using leave-one-patient-out cross-validation. Receiver operating characteristic analyses for detecting different tissue types were performed. RESULTS: The proposed method significantly reduced the errors in electron density estimation, with a mean absolute Hounsfield unit error of 119, compared with 140 and 144 (P<.0001) using conventional T1-weighted intensity and geometry-based approaches, respectively. For detection of bony anatomy, the proposed method achieved an 89% area under the curve, 86% sensitivity, 88% specificity, and 90% accuracy, which improved upon intensity and geometry-based approaches (area under the curve: 79% and 80%, respectively). CONCLUSION: The proposed multi-atlas approach provides robust electron density estimation and bone detection based on anatomic MRI. If validated on a larger population, our work could enable the use of MRI as a primary modality for radiation treatment planning.
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