Evaluation of a Coherent Point Drift Algorithm for Breast Image Registration via Surface Markers

Abstract

Breast Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a reliable imagingtool for localization and evaluation of lesions prior to breast conservingsurgery (BCS). MR images typically will be used to determinethe size and location of the tumours before making the incisionin order to minimize the amount of tissue excised.The arm position and configuration of the breast during andprior to surgery are different and one question is whether it wouldbe possible to match the two configurations. This matching processcan potentially be used in development of tools to guide surgeonsin the incision process.Recently, a Thin-Plate-Spline (TPS) algorithm has been proposedto assess the feasibility of breast tissue matching using fiducialsurface markers in two different arm positions. The registrationalgorithm uses the surface markers only and does not employ theimage intensities.In this manuscript, we apply and evaluate a coherent point drift(CPD) algorithm for registration of three-dimensional breast MR imagesof six patient volunteers. In particular, we evaluate the resultsof the previous TPS registration technique to the proposed rigidCPD, affine CPD, and deformable CPD registration algorithms onthe same patient datasets.The preliminary results suggest that the CPD deformable registrationalgorithm is superior in correcting the motion of the breastcompared to CPD rigid, affine and TPS registration algorithms.