Ultrasound Computer Tomography (USCT) is a promising breast imaging modality under development. Comparison to a standard method like mammography is essential for further development. Due to significant differences in image dimensionality and compression state of the breast, correlating USCT images and X-ray mammograms is challenging. In this paper we present a 2D/3D registration method to improve the spatial correspondence and allow direct comparison of the images. It is based on biomechanical modeling of the breast and simulation of the mammographic compression. We investigate the effect of including patient-specific material parameters estimated automatically from USCT images. The method was systematically evaluated using numerical phantoms and in-vivo data. The average registration accuracy using the automated registration was 11.9mm. Based on the registered images a method for analysis of the diagnostic value of the USCT images was developed and initially applied to analyze sound speed and attenuation images based on X-ray mammograms as ground truth. Combining sound speed and attenuation allows differentiating lesions from surrounding tissue. Overlaying this information on mammograms, combines quantitative and morphological information for multimodal diagnosis.
Keywords: Breast imaging; Image fusion; Image registration; Multimodal diagnosis; Ultrasound Computer Tomography; X-Ray mammography.
Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.