GAN-DIRNet:A Novel Deformable Image Registration Approach for Multimodal Histological Images

Multi-modal histological image registration tasks pose significant challenges due to tissue staining operations causing partial loss and folding of tissue.Convolutional neural network(CNN)and generative adversarial network(GAN)are pivotal inmedical image registration.However,existing methods often struggle with severe interference and deformation,as seen in histological images of conditions like Cushing’s disease.We argue that the failure of current approaches lies in underutilizing the feature extraction capability of the discriminator inGAN.In this study,we propose a novel multi-modal registration approach GAN-DIRNet based on GAN for deformable histological image registration.To begin with,the discriminators of two GANs are embedded as a new dual parallel feature extraction module into the unsupervised registration networks,characterized by implicitly extracting feature descriptors of specific modalities.Additionally,modal feature description layers and registration layers collaborate in unsupervised optimization,facilitating faster convergence and more precise results.Lastly,experiments and evaluations were conducted on the registration of the Mixed National Institute of Standards and Technology database(MNIST),eight publicly available datasets of histological sections and the Clustering-Registration-Classification-Segmentation(CRCS)dataset on the Cushing’s disease.Experimental results demonstrate that our proposed GAN-DIRNet method surpasses existing approaches like DIRNet in terms of both registration accuracy and time efficiency,while also exhibiting robustness across different image types.

Nonlinear Registration of Brain Magnetic Resonance Images with Cross Constraints of Intensity and Structure

Many deep learning-based registration methods rely on a single-stream encoder-decoder network for computing deformation fields between 3D volumes.However,these methods often lack constraint information and overlook semantic consistency,limiting their performance.To address these issues,we present a novel approach for medical image registration called theDual-VoxelMorph,featuring a dual-channel cross-constraint network.This innovative network utilizes both intensity and segmentation images,which share identical semantic information and feature representations.Two encoder-decoder structures calculate deformation fields for intensity and segmentation images,as generated by the dual-channel cross-constraint network.This design facilitates bidirectional communication between grayscale and segmentation information,enabling the model to better learn the corresponding grayscale and segmentation details of the same anatomical structures.To ensure semantic and directional consistency,we introduce constraints and apply the cosine similarity function to enhance semantic consistency.Evaluation on four public datasets demonstrates superior performance compared to the baselinemethod,achieving Dice scores of 79.9%,64.5%,69.9%,and 63.5%for OASIS-1,OASIS-3,LPBA40,and ADNI,respectively.

Novel registration algorithm for 3-D images captured from multiple views of object surface

A novel algorithm of 3-D surface image registration is proposed. It makes use of the array information of 3-D points and takes vector/vertex-like features as the basis of the matching. That array information of 3-D points can be easily obtained when capturing original 3-D images. The iterative least-mean-squared （LMS） algorithm is applied to optimizing adaptively the transformation matrix parameters. These can effectively improve the registration performance and hurry up the matching process. Experimental results show that it can reach a good subjective impression on aligned 3-D images. Although the algorithm focuses primarily on the human head model, it can also be used for other objects with small modifications.

A NEW IMAGE REGISTRATION METHOD FOR GREY IMAGES

The proposed algorithm relies on a group of new formulas for calculating tangent slope so as to address angle feature of edge curves of image. It can utilize tangent angle features to estimate automatically and fully the rotation parameters of geometric transform and enable rough matching of images with huge rotation difference. After angle compensation, it can search for matching point sets by correlation criterion, then calculate parameters of affine transform, enable higher-precision emendation of rotation and transferring. Finally, it fulfills precise matching for images with relax-tense iteration method. Compared with the registration approach based on wavelet direction-angle features, the matching algorithm with tangent feature of image edge is more robust and realizes precise registration of various images. Furthermore, it is also helpful in graphics matching.

Multi-Scale PIIFD for Registration of Multi-Source Remote Sensing Images

This paper aims at providing multi-source remote sensing images registered in geometric space for image fusion.Focusing on the characteristics and differences of multi-source remote sensing images,a feature-based registration algorithm is implemented.The key technologies include image scale-space for implementing multi-scale properties,Harris corner detection for keypoints extraction,and partial intensity invariant feature descriptor(PIIFD)for keypoints description.Eventually,a multi-scale Harris-PIIFD image registration algorithm framework is proposed.The experimental results of fifteen sets of representative real data show that the algorithm has excellent,stable performance in multi-source remote sensing image registration,and can achieve accurate spatial alignment,which has strong practical application value and certain generalization ability.

ASRNet: Adversarial Segmentation and Registration Networks for Multispectral Fundus Images

Multispectral imaging (MSI) technique is often used to capture imagesof the fundus by illuminating it with different wavelengths of light. However,these images are taken at different points in time such that eyeball movementscan cause misalignment between consecutive images. The multispectral imagesequence reveals important information in the form of retinal and choroidal bloodvessel maps, which can help ophthalmologists to analyze the morphology of theseblood vessels in detail. This in turn can lead to a high diagnostic accuracy of several diseases. In this paper, we propose a novel semi-supervised end-to-end deeplearning framework called “Adversarial Segmentation and Registration Nets”(ASRNet) for the simultaneous estimation of the blood vessel segmentation andthe registration of multispectral images via an adversarial learning process. ASRNet consists of two subnetworks: (i) A segmentation module S that fulfills theblood vessel segmentation task, and (ii) A registration module R that estimatesthe spatial correspondence of an image pair. Based on the segmention-drivenregistration network, we train the segmentation network using a semi-supervisedadversarial learning strategy. Our experimental results show that the proposedASRNet can achieve state-of-the-art accuracy in segmentation and registrationtasks performed with real MSI datasets.

2D registration based on contour matching for partial matching images

The mean Hausdorff distance, though highly applicable in image registration, does not work well on partial matching images. An improvement upon traditional Hausdorff-distance-based image registration method is proposed, which consists of the following two aspects. One is to estimate transformation parameters between two images from the distributions of geometric property differences instead of establishing explicit feature correspondences. This procedure is treated as the pre-registration. The other aspect is that mean Hausdorff distance computation is replaced with the analysis of the second difference of generalized Hausdorff distance so as to eliminate the redundant points. Experimental results show that our registration method outperforms the method based on mean Hausdorff distance. The registration errors are noticeably reduced in the partial matching images.

MUTUAL INFORMATION BASED 3D NON-RIGID REGISTRATION OF CT/MR ABDOMEN IMAGES

A mutual information based 3D non-rigid registration approach was proposed for the registration of deformable CT/MR body abdomen images. The Parzen Windows Density Estimation (PWDE) method is adopted to calculate the mutual information between the two modals of CT and MRI abdomen images. By maximizing MI between the CT and MR volume images, the overlapping part of them reaches the biggest, which means that the two body images of CT and MR matches best to each other. Visible Human Project (VHP) Male abdomen CT and MRI Data are used as experimental data sets. The experimental results indicate that this approach of non-rigid 3D registration of CT/MR body abdominal images can be achieved effectively and automatically, without any prior processing procedures such as segmentation and feature extraction, but has a main drawback of very long computation time.

A MNCIE method for registration of ultrasound images

A new approach to the problem of registration of ultrasound images is presented, using a concept of Nonlinear Correlation Information Entropy (NCIE) as the matching criterion. The proposed method applies NCIE to measure the correlation degree between the image intensities of corresponding voxel in the floating and reference images. Registration is achieved by adjustment of the relative position until NCIE between the images is maximized. However, unlike mutual information (MI), NCIE varies in the closed interval [0, 1], and around the extremum it varies sharply, which makes it possible that thresholds of NCIE can be used to boost the search for the registration transformation. Using this feature of NCIE, we combine the downhill simplex searching algorithm to register the ultrasound images. The simulations are conducted to testify the effectiveness and rapidity of the proposed registration method, in which the ultrasound floating images are aligned to the reference images with required registration accuracy. Moreover, the NCIE based method can overcome local minima problem by setting thresholds and can take care of the differences in contrast between the floating and reference images.

Automated Registration for Infrared Image Based on Wavelet Analysis

To develop a quick, accurate and antinoise automated image registration technique for infrared images, the wavelet analysis technique was used to extract the feature points in two images followed by the compensation for input image with angle difference between them. A hi erarchical feature matching algorithm was adopted to get the final transform parameters between the two images. The simulation results for two infrared images show that the method can effectively, quickly and accurately register images and be antinoise to some extent.

Projection registration of X-ray image and CT image

A methodology for alignment of an X-ray image and a CT image, based on the Chamfer 3-4 distance transform and simulated annealing optimization algorithm is presented. Firstly, an initial transformation matrix is constructed. For the convenience of computing, geometric models of the X-ray device to reconstruct the calibration matrix are used. Then, by defining the distance between the 3-D protective and the 2-D object image, we optimize this distance matching problem, using the simulated annealing algorithm. This method is also integrated into medical intra-operation, dealing with the data set acquired from 3-D image workstation and active navigation.

IMAGE PANORAMIC MOS AICING WITH GLOBAL AND LOCAL REGISTRATION

Technique s for constructing full view panoramic mosaics from sequences of images are pres ented. The goal of this work is to remove too many limitations for pure panning motion. The best reference block is important for the block-matching method for improving the robustness and performance. It is automatically selected in the h igh-frequency image, which always contains the plenty visible features. In orde r to reduce accumulated registration errors, the global registration using the p hase-correlation matching method with rotation adjustment is applied to the who le sequence of images, which results in an optimal image mosaic with resolving t ranslational or rotational motion. The local registration using the Levenberg-M arquardt iterative non-linear minimization algorithm is applied to compensating for small amounts of motion parallax introduced by translations of the camera a nd other unmodeled distortions, then minimizing the discrepancy after applying t he global registration. The accumulated misregistration errors may cause a visib le gap between the two images. A smoothing filter is introduced for removing the visible artifact.

A method based on mutual information and gradient information for medical image registration

Mutual information is widely used in medical image registration, because it does not require preprocessing the image. However, the local maximum problem in the registration is insurmountable. We combine mutual information and gradient information to solve this problem and apply it to the non-rigid deformation image registration. To improve the accuracy, we provide some implemental issues, for example, the Powell searching algorithm, gray interpolation and consideration of outlier points. The experimental results show the accuracy of the method and the feasibility in non-rigid medical image registration.

A Review of Point Feature Based Medical Image Registration

Point features, as the basis of lines, surfaces, and bodies, are commonly used in medical image registration. To obtain an elegant spatial transformation of extracted feature points, many point set matching algorithms(PMs) have been developed to match two point sets by optimizing multifarious distance functions. There are ample reviews related to medical image registration and PMs which summarize their basic principles and main algorithms separately. However,to data, detailed summary of PMs used in medical image registration in different clinical environments has not been published. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive review of the existing key techniques of the PMs applied to medical image registration according to the basic principles and clinical applications. As the core technique of the PMs, geometric transformation models are elaborated in this paper, demonstrating the mechanism of point set registration. We also focus on the clinical applications of the PMs and propose a practical classification method according to their applications in different clinical surgeries. The aim of this paper is to provide a summary of pointfeaturebased methods used in medical image registration and to guide doctors or researchers interested in this field to choose appropriate techniques in their research.

SuperFusion: A Versatile Image Registration and Fusion Network with Semantic Awareness

Image fusion aims to integrate complementary information in source images to synthesize a fused image comprehensively characterizing the imaging scene. However, existing image fusion algorithms are only applicable to strictly aligned source images and cause severe artifacts in the fusion results when input images have slight shifts or deformations. In addition,the fusion results typically only have good visual effect, but neglect the semantic requirements of high-level vision tasks.This study incorporates image registration, image fusion, and semantic requirements of high-level vision tasks into a single framework and proposes a novel image registration and fusion method, named Super Fusion. Specifically, we design a registration network to estimate bidirectional deformation fields to rectify geometric distortions of input images under the supervision of both photometric and end-point constraints. The registration and fusion are combined in a symmetric scheme, in which while mutual promotion can be achieved by optimizing the naive fusion loss, it is further enhanced by the mono-modal consistent constraint on symmetric fusion outputs. In addition, the image fusion network is equipped with the global spatial attention mechanism to achieve adaptive feature integration. Moreover, the semantic constraint based on the pre-trained segmentation model and Lovasz-Softmax loss is deployed to guide the fusion network to focus more on the semantic requirements of high-level vision tasks. Extensive experiments on image registration, image fusion,and semantic segmentation tasks demonstrate the superiority of our Super Fusion compared to the state-of-the-art alternatives.The source code and pre-trained model are publicly available at https://github.com/Linfeng-Tang/Super Fusion.

Total Variation Constrained Non-Negative Matrix Factorization for Medical Image Registration

This paper presents a novel medical image registration algorithm named total variation constrained graphregularization for non-negative matrix factorization(TV-GNMF).The method utilizes non-negative matrix factorization by total variation constraint and graph regularization.The main contributions of our work are the following.First,total variation is incorporated into NMF to control the diffusion speed.The purpose is to denoise in smooth regions and preserve features or details of the data in edge regions by using a diffusion coefficient based on gradient information.Second,we add graph regularization into NMF to reveal intrinsic geometry and structure information of features to enhance the discrimination power.Third,the multiplicative update rules and proof of convergence of the TV-GNMF algorithm are given.Experiments conducted on datasets show that the proposed TV-GNMF method outperforms other state-of-the-art algorithms.

Multi-sensor image registration using multi-resolution shape analysis

Multi-sensor image registration has been widely used in remote sensing and medical image field, but registration performance is degenerated when heterogeneous images are involved. An image registration method based on multi-resolution shape analysis is proposed in this paper, to deal with the problem that the shape of similar objects is always invariant. The contours of shapes are first detected as visual features using an extended contour search algorithm in order to reduce effects of noise, and the multi-resolution shape descriptor is constructed through Fourier curvature representation of the contour’s chain code. Then a minimum distance function is used to judge the similarity between two contours. To avoid the effect of different resolution and intensity distribution, suitable resolution of each image is selected by maximizing the consistency of its pyramid shapes. Finally, the transformation parameters are estimated based on the matched control-point pairs which are the centers of gravity of the closed contours. Multi-sensor Landsat TM imagery and infrared imagery have been used as experimental data for comparison with the classical contour-based registration. Our results have been shown to be superior to the classical ones.

Optical and SAR image registration based on improved nonsubsampled wavelet transform for sea islands

Homologous feature point extraction is a key problem in the optical and synthetic aperture radar （SAR） image registration for islands. A new feature point extraction method using a threshold shrink operator and non-subsampled wavelet transform （TSO-NSWT） for optical and SAR image registration was proposed. Moreover, the matching for this proposed feature was different from the traditional feature matching strategies and was performed using a similarity measure computed from neighborhood circles in low-frequency bands. Then, a number of reliably matched couples with even distributions were obtained, which assured the accuracy of the registration. Application of the proposed algorithm to SPOT-5 （multi-spectral） and YG-1 （SAR） images showed that a large number of accurately matched couples could be identified. Additionally, both of the root mean square error （RMSE） patterns of the registration parameters computed based on the TSO-NSWT algorithm and traditional NSWT algorithm were analyzed and compared, which further demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. The algorithm can supply the crucial step for island image registration and island recognition.

Multi-modality liver image registration based on multilevel B-splines free-form deformation and L-BFGS optimal algorithm

A new coarse-to-fine strategy was proposed for nonrigid registration of computed tomography(CT) and magnetic resonance(MR) images of a liver.This hierarchical framework consisted of an affine transformation and a B-splines free-form deformation(FFD).The affine transformation performed a rough registration targeting the mismatch between the CT and MR images.The B-splines FFD transformation performed a finer registration by correcting local motion deformation.In the registration algorithm,the normalized mutual information(NMI) was used as similarity measure,and the limited memory Broyden-Fletcher- Goldfarb-Shannon(L-BFGS) optimization method was applied for optimization process.The algorithm was applied to the fully automated registration of liver CT and MR images in three subjects.The results demonstrate that the proposed method not only significantly improves the registration accuracy but also reduces the running time,which is effective and efficient for nonrigid registration.

Two fully automated data-driven 3D whole-breast segmentation strategies in MRI for MR-based breast density using image registration and U-Net with a focus on reproducibility

Presence of higher breast density(BD)and persistence over time are risk factors for breast cancer.A quantitatively accurate and highly reproducible BD measure that relies on precise and reproducible whole-breast segmentation is desirable.In this study,we aimed to develop a highly reproducible and accurate whole-breast segmentation algorithm for the generation of reproducible BD measures.Three datasets of volunteers from two clinical trials were included.Breast MR images were acquired on 3T Siemens Biograph mMR,Prisma,and Skyra using 3D Cartesian six-echo GRE sequences with a fat-water separation technique.Two whole-breast segmentation strategies,utiliz-ing image registration and 3D U-Net,were developed.Manual segmentation was performed.A task-based analysis was performed:a previously developed MR-based BD measure,MagDensity,was calculated and assessed using automated and manual segmentation.The mean squared error(MSE)and intraclass correlation coefficient(ICC)between MagDensity were evaluated using the manual segmentation as a reference.The test-retest reproducibility of MagDensity derived from different breast segmentation methods was assessed using the difference between the test and retest measures(Δ_(2-1)),MSE,and ICC.The results showed that MagDensity derived by the registration and deep learning segmentation methods exhibited high concordance with manual segmentation,with ICCs of 0.986(95%CI:0.974-0.993)and 0.983(95%CI:0.961-0.992),respectively.For test-retest analysis,MagDensity derived using the regis-tration algorithm achieved the smallest MSE of 0.370 and highest ICC of 0.993(95%CI:0.982-0.997)when compared to other segmentation methods.In conclusion,the proposed registration and deep learning whole-breast segmentation methods are accurate and reliable for estimating BD.Both methods outperformed a previously developed algorithm and manual segmentation in the test-retest assessment,with the registration exhibiting superior performance for highly reproducible BD measurements.