Ahmed Mostayed

Biomechanical Model as a Registration Tool for Image-Guided Neurosurgery: Evaluation Against BSpline Registration

In this paper we evaluate the accuracy of warping of neuro-images using brain deformation predicted by means of a patient-specific biomechanical model against registration using a BSpline-based free form deformation algorithm. Unlike the BSpline algorithm, biomechanics-based registration does not require an intra-operative MR image which is very expensive and cumbersome to acquire. Only sparse intra-operative data on the brain surface is sufficient to compute deformation for the whole brain. In this contribution the deformation fields obtained from both methods are qualitatively compared and overlaps of Canny edges extracted from the images are examined. We define an edge based Hausdorff distance metric to quantitatively evaluate the accuracy of registration for these two algorithms. The qualitative and quantitative evaluations indicate that our biomechanics-based registration algorithm, despite using much less input data, has at least as high registration accuracy as that of the BSpline algorithm.

More accurate neuronavigation data provided by biomechanical modeling instead of rigid registration.

It is possible to improve neuronavigation during image-guided surgery by warping the high-quality preoperative brain images so that they correspond with the current intraoperative configuration of the brain. In this work, the accuracy of registration results obtained using comprehensive biomechanical models is compared to the accuracy of rigid registration, the technology currently available to patients. This comparison allows us to investigate whether biomechanical modeling provides good quality image data for neuronavigation for a larger proportion of patients than rigid registration. Preoperative images for 33 cases of neurosurgery were warped onto their respective intraoperative configurations using both biomechanics-based method and rigid registration. We used a Hausdorff distance-based evaluation process that measures the difference between images to quantify the performance of both methods of registration. A statistical test for difference in proportions was conducted to evaluate the null hypothesis that the proportion of patients for whom improved neuronavigation can be achieved, is the same for rigid and biomechanics-based registration. The null hypothesis was confidently rejected (p-value<10−4). Even the modified hypothesis that less than 25% of patients would benefit from the use of biomechanics-based registration was rejected at a significance level of 5% (p-value = 0.02). The biomechanics-based method proved particularly effective for cases experiencing large craniotomy-induced brain deformations. The outcome of this analysis suggests that our nonlinear biomechanics-based methods are beneficial to a large proportion of patients and can be considered for use in the operating theatre as one possible method of improving neuronavigation and surgical outcomes.It is possible to improve neuronavigation during image-guided surgery by warping the high-quality preoperative brain images so that they correspond with the current intraoperative configuration of the brain. In this paper, the accuracy of registration results obtained using comprehensive biomechanical models is compared with the accuracy of rigid registration, the technology currently available to patients. This comparison allows investigation into whether biomechanical modeling provides good-quality image data for neuronavigation for a larger proportion of patients than rigid registration. Preoperative images for 33 neurosurgery cases were warped onto their respective intraoperative configurations using both the biomechanics-based method and rigid registration. The Hausdorff distance-based evaluation process, which measures the difference between images, was used to quantify the performance of both registration methods. A statistical test for difference in proportions was conducted to evaluate the null hypothesis that the proportion of patients for whom improved neuronavigation can be achieved is the same for rigid and biomechanics-based registration. The null hypothesis was confidently rejected (p < 10(-4)). Even the modified hypothesis that fewer than 25% of patients would benefit from the use of biomechanics-based registration was rejected at a significance level of 5% (p = 0.02). The biomechanics-based method proved particularly effective in cases demonstrating large craniotomy-induced brain deformations. The outcome of this analysis suggests that nonlinear biomechanics-based methods are beneficial to a large proportion of patients and can be considered for use in the operating theater as a possible means of improving neuronavigation and surgical outcomes.

Biometric authentication from low resolution hand images using radon transform

Biometric authentication refers to the automatic verification of a persons identity from physiological or behavioral characteristics presented by him or her. In this paper an authentication scheme from hand images is presented. Instead of dealing with hand measurements, typically termed as ‘hand geometry’, this method verifies with entire hand shape. Peg free and position invariant features are calculated using Radon Transform. Low resolution hand images captured by a document scanner are processed to extract feature vectors. The proposed scheme is tested on a data set of 136 images with simple Euclidian norm based match score. The method attained an Equal Error Rate (EER) of 5.1%.

Towards measuring neuroimage misalignment

To enhance neuro-navigation, high quality pre-operative images must be registered onto intra-operative configuration of the brain. Therefore evaluation of the degree to which structures may remain misaligned after registration is critically important. We consider two Hausdorff Distance (HD)-based evaluation approaches: the edge-based HD (EBHD) metric and the Robust HD (RHD) metric as well as various commonly used intensity-based similarity metrics such as Mutual Information (MI), Normalised Mutual Information (NMI), Entropy Correlation Coefficient (ECC), Kullback-Leibler Distance (KLD) and Correlation Ratio (CR). We conducted the evaluation by applying known deformations to simple sample images and real cases of brain shift. We conclude that the intensity-based similarity metrics such as MI, NMI, ECC, KLD and CR do not correlate well with actual alignment errors, and hence are not useful for assessing misalignment. On the contrary, the EBHD and the RHD metrics correlated well with actual alignment errors; however, they have been found to underestimate the actual misalignment. We also note that it is beneficial to present HD results as a percentile-HD curve rather than a single number such as the 95-percentile HD. Percentile-HD curves present the full range of alignment errors and also facilitate the comparison of results obtained using different approaches. Furthermore, the qualities that should be possessed by an ideal evaluation metric were highlighted. Future studies could focus on developing such an evaluation metric.

Biomechanical modeling provides more accurate data for neuronavigation than rigid registration

It is possible to improve neuronavigation during image-guided surgery by warping the high-quality preoperative brain images so that they correspond with the current intraoperative configuration of the brain. In this work, the accuracy of registration results obtained using comprehensive biomechanical models is compared to the accuracy of rigid registration, the technology currently available to patients. This comparison allows us to investigate whether biomechanical modeling provides good quality image data for neuronavigation for a larger proportion of patients than rigid registration. Preoperative images for 33 cases of neurosurgery were warped onto their respective intraoperative configurations using both biomechanics-based method and rigid registration. We used a Hausdorff distance-based evaluation process that measures the difference between images to quantify the performance of both methods of registration. A statistical test for difference in proportions was conducted to evaluate the null hypothesis that the proportion of patients for whom improved neuronavigation can be achieved, is the same for rigid and biomechanics-based registration. The null hypothesis was confidently rejected (p-value<10−4). Even the modified hypothesis that less than 25% of patients would benefit from the use of biomechanics-based registration was rejected at a significance level of 5% (p-value = 0.02). The biomechanics-based method proved particularly effective for cases experiencing large craniotomy-induced brain deformations. The outcome of this analysis suggests that our nonlinear biomechanics-based methods are beneficial to a large proportion of patients and can be considered for use in the operating theatre as one possible method of improving neuronavigation and surgical outcomes.It is possible to improve neuronavigation during image-guided surgery by warping the high-quality preoperative brain images so that they correspond with the current intraoperative configuration of the brain. In this paper, the accuracy of registration results obtained using comprehensive biomechanical models is compared with the accuracy of rigid registration, the technology currently available to patients. This comparison allows investigation into whether biomechanical modeling provides good-quality image data for neuronavigation for a larger proportion of patients than rigid registration. Preoperative images for 33 neurosurgery cases were warped onto their respective intraoperative configurations using both the biomechanics-based method and rigid registration. The Hausdorff distance-based evaluation process, which measures the difference between images, was used to quantify the performance of both registration methods. A statistical test for difference in proportions was conducted to evaluate the null hypothesis that the proportion of patients for whom improved neuronavigation can be achieved is the same for rigid and biomechanics-based registration. The null hypothesis was confidently rejected (p < 10(-4)). Even the modified hypothesis that fewer than 25% of patients would benefit from the use of biomechanics-based registration was rejected at a significance level of 5% (p = 0.02). The biomechanics-based method proved particularly effective in cases demonstrating large craniotomy-induced brain deformations. The outcome of this analysis suggests that nonlinear biomechanics-based methods are beneficial to a large proportion of patients and can be considered for use in the operating theater as a possible means of improving neuronavigation and surgical outcomes.

Intra-operative Update of Neuro-images: Comparison of Performance of Image Warping Using Patient-Specific Biomechanical Model and BSpline Image Registration

This paper compares the warping of neuro-images using brain deformation predicted by means of patient-specific biomechanical model with the neuro-image registration using BSpline-based free form deformation algorithm. Deformation fields obtained from both algorithms are qualitatively compared and overlaps of edges extracted from the images are examined. Finally, an edge-based Hausdorff distance metric is defined to quantitatively evaluate the accuracy of registration for these two algorithms. From the results it is concluded that the patient-specific biomechanical model ensures higher registration accuracy than the BSpline registration algorithm.

A 'Frequency Blind' Method for Symbol Rate Estimation

Estimation of the symbol rate has important applications in receiver synchronization for symbol time recovery. In this paper the problem is investigated using Smoothen Non-Linear Energy Operator (SNEO). Unlike wavelet based methods in [2], [3], [4] the proposed algorithm is completely blind because it does not require any priory information regarding the modulation type or carrier frequency. Moreover, the proposed algorithm is computationally efficient. Simulation results also proof the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

More accurate neuronavigation data provided by biomechanical modeling instead of rigid registration: Technical note

It is possible to improve neuronavigation during image-guided surgery by warping the high-quality preoperative brain images so that they correspond with the current intraoperative configuration of the brain. In this work, the accuracy of registration results obtained using comprehensive biomechanical models is compared to the accuracy of rigid registration, the technology currently available to patients. This comparison allows us to investigate whether biomechanical modeling provides good quality image data for neuronavigation for a larger proportion of patients than rigid registration. Preoperative images for 33 cases of neurosurgery were warped onto their respective intraoperative configurations using both biomechanics-based method and rigid registration. We used a Hausdorff distance-based evaluation process that measures the difference between images to quantify the performance of both methods of registration. A statistical test for difference in proportions was conducted to evaluate the null hypothesis that the proportion of patients for whom improved neuronavigation can be achieved, is the same for rigid and biomechanics-based registration. The null hypothesis was confidently rejected (p-value<10−4). Even the modified hypothesis that less than 25% of patients would benefit from the use of biomechanics-based registration was rejected at a significance level of 5% (p-value = 0.02). The biomechanics-based method proved particularly effective for cases experiencing large craniotomy-induced brain deformations. The outcome of this analysis suggests that our nonlinear biomechanics-based methods are beneficial to a large proportion of patients and can be considered for use in the operating theatre as one possible method of improving neuronavigation and surgical outcomes.It is possible to improve neuronavigation during image-guided surgery by warping the high-quality preoperative brain images so that they correspond with the current intraoperative configuration of the brain. In this paper, the accuracy of registration results obtained using comprehensive biomechanical models is compared with the accuracy of rigid registration, the technology currently available to patients. This comparison allows investigation into whether biomechanical modeling provides good-quality image data for neuronavigation for a larger proportion of patients than rigid registration. Preoperative images for 33 neurosurgery cases were warped onto their respective intraoperative configurations using both the biomechanics-based method and rigid registration. The Hausdorff distance-based evaluation process, which measures the difference between images, was used to quantify the performance of both registration methods. A statistical test for difference in proportions was conducted to evaluate the null hypothesis that the proportion of patients for whom improved neuronavigation can be achieved is the same for rigid and biomechanics-based registration. The null hypothesis was confidently rejected (p < 10(-4)). Even the modified hypothesis that fewer than 25% of patients would benefit from the use of biomechanics-based registration was rejected at a significance level of 5% (p = 0.02). The biomechanics-based method proved particularly effective in cases demonstrating large craniotomy-induced brain deformations. The outcome of this analysis suggests that nonlinear biomechanics-based methods are beneficial to a large proportion of patients and can be considered for use in the operating theater as a possible means of improving neuronavigation and surgical outcomes.