Fast and robust registration based on gradient orientations: Case study matching intra-operative ultrasound to pre-operative MRI in neurosurgery

Abstract

We present a novel approach for the rigid registration of pre-operative magnetic resonance to intra-operative ultrasound in the context of image-guided neurosurgery. Our framework proposes the maximization of gradient orientation alignment in locations with minimal uncertainty of the orientation estimates, permitting fast and robust performance. We evaluated our method on 14 clinical neurosurgical cases of patients with brain tumors, including low-grade and high-grade gliomas. We demonstrate processing times as small as 7 seconds and improved performance with relation to competing intensity-based methods. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.