How to register two DICOM volumes ?

Registration is the task of aligning or developing correspondences between data. It is possible to stack multiple DICOM volumes on one image and use an algorithm to align them. For example, a CT scan may be aligned with a MRI scan in order to combine the information contained in both.

JimboDICOMViewer uses a rigid transformation that allows to succeed this goal. Because it is not a deformable registration, both DICOM volume should belong to the same patient.

Here, below, the steps to use this feature :

1. Upload each DICOM dataset in the database,
2. Create a DICOM volume for each DICOM dataset,
3. Display the first DICOM volume (double click on the corresponding line in the database)
4. Add the second DICOM volume :

1. Go to “DICOM tools” menu item,
2. Choose “Add DICOM volume (from database),
3. Double click on the corresponding line in the database.

A dialog box is displayed :

The algorithm is optimized to perform the superimposition of a MRI and a CT. Anyway, it is possible to make more precise the algorithm, by increasing the proportion of voxels tested. The user should select the number of voxels of the DICOM images that should be used in the algorithm.

Please note that all voxels are required to perform the registration of an MRI and a PET scan.

The process takes about 1 minute, depending on the size of the dataset and the CPU power.

Add the end of the process, the images should be aligned. The registered DICOM volume is automatically saved in the database. The user has now access to the registered volume by clicking on the “Add overlay” icon .

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