DTI-DROID: Diffusion tensor imaging-deformable registration using orientation and intensity descriptors

This article presents a method (DROID) for deformable registration of diffusion tensor (DT) images that utilizes the full tensor information by integrating the intensity and orientation features into a hierarchical matching framework. The intensity features are derived from eigen value based measures that characterize the tensor in terms of its different shape properties, such as, prolateness, oblateness, and sphericity of the tensor. Local spatial distributions of the prolate, oblate, and spherical geometry are used to create an attribute vector called the geometric/intensity feature for matching. The orientation features are the orientation histograms computed from the eigenvectors. These intensity and orientation features are incorporated into a hierarchical deformable registration framework to develop a deformable registration algorithm for DT images. Using orientation features improves the matching of the white matter fiber tracts by taking into account the underlying fiber orientation information. Extensive experiments on simulated and real brain DT data show promising results that makes DROID potentially useful for subsequent group-based analysis of DT images to identify disease-induced and developmental changes in a population. VC 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 20, 99–107, 2010; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/ima.20232