Segmenting the Brain Surface from CT Images with Artifacts Using Dictionary Learning for Non-rigid MR-CT Registration

Segmenting the Brain Surface From CT Images With Artifacts Using Locally Oriented Appearance and Dictionary Learning

The accurate segmentation of the brain surface in post-surgical computed tomography (CT) images is critical for image-guided neurosurgical procedures in epilepsy patients. Following surgical implantation of intracranial electrodes, surgeons require accurate registration of the post-implantation CT images to the pre-implantation functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging to guide surgical resection of epileptic tissue. One way to perform the registration is via surface matching. The key challenge in this setup is the CT segmentation, where the extraction of the cortical surface is difficult due to the missing parts of the skull and artifacts introduced from the electrodes. In this paper, we present a dictionary learning-based method to segment the brain surface in post-surgical CT images of epilepsy patients following surgical implantation of electrodes. We propose learning a model of locally oriented appearance that captures both the normal tissue and the artifacts found along this brain surface boundary. Utilizing a database of clinical epilepsy imaging data to train and test our approach, we demonstrate that our method using locally oriented image appearance both more accurately extracts the brain surface and better localizes electrodes on the post-operative brain surface compared to standard, non-oriented appearance modeling. In addition, we compare our method to a standard atlas-based segmentation approach and to a U-Net-based deep convolutional neural network segmentation method.

Reducing streak artifacts in computed tomography via sparse representation in coupled dictionaries

PURPOSE

Reducing the number of acquired projections is a simple and efficient way to reduce the radiation dose in computed tomography (CT). Unfortunately, this results in streak artifacts in the reconstructed images that can significantly reduce their diagnostic value. This paper presents a novel algorithm for suppressing these artifacts in 3D CT.

METHODS

The proposed algorithm is based on the sparse representation of small blocks of 3D CT images in learned overcomplete dictionaries. It learns two dictionaries, the first dictionary (D(a)) is for artifact-full images that have been reconstructed from a small number (approximately 100) of projections. The other dictionary (D(c)) is for clean artifact-free images. The core idea behind the proposed algorithm is to relate the representation coefficients of an artifact-full block in D(a) to the representation coefficients of the corresponding artifact-free block in D(c). The relation between these coefficients is modeled with a linear mapping. The two dictionaries and the linear relation between the coefficients are learned simultaneously from the training data. To remove the artifacts from a test image, small blocks are extracted from this image and their sparse representation is computed in D(a). The linear map is then used to compute the corresponding coefficients in D(c), which are then used to produce the artifact-suppressed blocks.

RESULTS

The authors apply the proposed algorithm on real cone-beam CT images. Their results show that the proposed algorithm can effectively suppress the artifacts and substantially improve the quality of the reconstructed images. The images produced by the proposed algorithm have a higher quality than the images reconstructed by the FDK algorithm from twice as many projections.

CONCLUSIONS

The proposed sparsity-based algorithm can be a valuable tool for postprocessing of CT images reconstructed from a small number of projections. Therefore, it has the potential to be an effective tool for low-dose CT.