Atlas-based whole-body registration in mice

Abstract

In this chapter, we present a fully automated approach for whole-body segmentation of mice in CT data, based on articulated skeleton registration. The method uses an anatomical animal atlas where positionand degrees of freedom for each joint have been specified. Based on the registration result of the skeleton, a set of corresponding landmarks on bone and joint locations is used to derive further correspondenceson surface representations of the lung and the skin. While atlas-based registration is applied to the former, a local geodesic shape context is employed for the latter. Subsequently, major organs are mapped from the atlas to the subject domain using Thin-Plate-Spline approximation, constrained by the landmarks on the skeleton, the lung and the skin. Accuracy and precision of the skeleton registration as well as organ approximation results in a follow-up study are demonstrated.