Patient-specific Deformation Modelling via Elastography: Application to Image-guided Prostate Interventions

Image-guided prostate interventions often require the registration of preoperative magnetic resonance (MR) images to real-time transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) images to provide high-quality guidance. One of the main challenges for registering MR images to TRUS images is how to estimate the TRUS-probe-induced prostate deformation that occurs during TRUS imaging. The combined statistical and biomechanical modeling approach shows promise for the adequate estimation of prostate deformation. However, the right setting of the biomechanical parameters is very crucial for realistic deformation modeling. We propose a patient-specific deformation model equipped with personalized biomechanical parameters obtained from shear wave elastography to reliably predict the prostate deformation during image-guided interventions. Using data acquired from a prostate phantom and twelve patients with suspected prostate cancer, we compared the prostate deformation model with and without patient-specific biomechanical parameters in terms of deformation estimation accuracy. The results show that the patient-specific deformation model possesses favorable model ability, and outperforms the model without patient-specific biomechanical parameters. The employment of the patient-specific biomechanical parameters obtained from elastography for deformation modeling shows promise for providing more precise deformation estimation in applications that use computer-assisted image-guided intervention systems.