Measuring three-dimensional tibiofemoral kinematics using dual-slice real-time magnetic resonance imaging.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to propose and evaluate a slice-to-volume registration (SVR) method integrating an advanced dual-slice real-time magnetic resonance image (MRI) and three-dimensional (3D) MRI volume of the tibiofemoral joint for determining their 3D kinematics. METHODS: The real-time and 3D MRI of the knee were collected from 12 healthy adults at 5 static flexion positions and during dynamic flexion/extension movement. The 3D positions and orientations of the femur and tibia were obtained by registering their volumetric models constructed from the 3D MRI to dual-slice real-time MRI using an optimization process. The proposed method was quantitatively evaluated for its performance in terms of the robustness and measurement accuracy, and compared to those of a single-slice SVR method. Its repeatability in measuring knee kinematics during flexion/extension movement was also determined. RESULTS: In comparison to the single-slice SVR method, the dual-slice method was significantly superior, giving a successful registration rate > 95%, a bias less than 0.5 mm in translations and 0.6° in rotations and a precision <0.7 mm in translations and 0.9° in rotations for determining the 3D tibiofemoral poses. For repeatability of the dual-slice SVR in measuring tibiofemoral kinematics during dynamic flexion/extension, the means of the time-averaged standard deviations were <0.9° for joint angles and 0.5 mm for joint translations. CONCLUSION: A dual-slice SVR method in conjunction with real-time MRI has been developed and evaluated for its performance in measuring 3D kinematics of the tibiofemoral joint in 12 young adults in terms of the accuracy, robustness, and repeatability. The proposed MRI-based 3D measurement method provides a noninvasive and ionizing radiation-free approach for 3D kinematic measurement of the tibiofemoral joint, which will be helpful for future academic and clinical applications.

In vivo three-dimensional intervertebral kinematics of the subaxial cervical spine during seated axial rotation and lateral bending via a fluoroscopy-to-CT registration approach.

Accurate measurement of the coupled intervertebral motions is helpful for understanding the etiology and diagnosis of relevant diseases, and for assessing the subsequent treatment. No study has reported the in vivo, dynamic and three-dimensional (3D) intervertebral motion of the cervical spine during active axial rotation (AR) and lateral bending (LB) in the sitting position. The current study fills the gap by measuring the coupled intervertebral motions of the subaxial cervical spine in ten asymptomatic young adults in an upright sitting position during active head LB and AR using a volumetric model-based 2D-to-3D registration method via biplane fluoroscopy. Subject-specific models of the individual vertebrae were derived from each subject's CT data and were registered to the fluoroscopic images for determining the 3D poses of the subaxial vertebrae that were used to obtain the intervertebral kinematics. The averaged ranges of motion to one side (ROM) during AR at C3/C4, C4/C5, C5/C6, and C6/C7 were 4.2°, 4.6°, 3.0° and 1.3°, respectively. The corresponding values were 6.4°, 5.2°, 6.1° and 6.1° during LB. Intervertebral LB (ILB) played an important role in both AR and LB tasks of the cervical spine, experiencing greater ROM than intervertebral AR (IAR) (ratio of coupled motion (IAR/ILB): 0.23-0.75 in LB, 0.34-0.95 in AR). Compared to the AR task, the ranges of ILB during the LB task were significantly greater at C5/6 (p=0.008) and C6/7 (p=0.001) but the range of IAR was significantly smaller at C4/5 (p=0.02), leading to significantly smaller ratios of coupled motions at C4/5 (p=0.0013), C5/6 (p<0.001) and C6/7 (p=0.0037). The observed coupling characteristics of the intervertebral kinematics were different from those in previous studies under discrete static conditions in a supine position without weight-bearing, suggesting that the testing conditions likely affect the kinematics of the subaxial cervical spine. While C1 and C2 were not included owing to technical limitations, the current results nonetheless provide baseline data of the intervertebral motion of the subaxial cervical spine in asymptomatic young subjects under physiological conditions, which may be helpful for further investigations into spine biomechanics.

Comparisons of surface vs. volumetric model-based registration methods using single-plane vs. bi-plane fluoroscopy in measuring spinal kinematics.

Several 2D-to-3D image registration methods are available for measuring 3D vertebral motion but their performance has not been evaluated under the same experimental protocol. In this study, four major types of fluoroscopy-to-CT registration methods, with different use of surface vs. volumetric models, and single-plane vs. bi-plane fluoroscopy, were evaluated: STS (surface, single-plane), VTS (volumetric, single-plane), STB (surface, bi-plane) and VTB (volumetric, bi-plane). Two similarity measures were used: 'Contour Difference' for STS and STB and 'Weighted Edge-Matching Score' for VTS and VTB. Two cadaveric porcine cervical spines positioned in a box filled with paraffin and embedded with four radiopaque markers were CT scanned to obtain vertebral models and marker coordinates, and imaged at ten static positions using bi-plane fluoroscopy for subsequent registrations using different methods. The registered vertebral poses were compared to the gold standard poses defined by the marker positions determined using CT and Roentgen stereophotogrammetry analysis. The VTB was found to have the highest precision (translation: 0.4mm; rotation: 0.3°), comparable with the VTS in rotations (0.3°), and the STB in translations (0.6mm). The STS had the lowest precision (translation: 4.1mm; rotation: 2.1°).

A slice-to-volume registration method based on real-time magnetic resonance imaging for measuring three-dimensional kinematics of the knee.

PURPOSE: This study developed and assessed a slice-to-volume registration method that integrated three-dimensional (3D) static MRI volumes of the bones with a novel single-slice, real-time radial fast low-angle shot MRI for measuring the 3D kinematics of the knee. METHODS: Multislice 3D images (for establishing bone models) and 2D real-time images of the knee at five static positions, and 2D real-time images of the knee during flexion/extension were acquired from three healthy adults. The 3D bone poses, and thus the 3D kinematics of the knee, were obtained by registering the real-time images to a reformed slice interpolated from the bone models according to the WEMS similarity measure. The ensemble means (biases) and standard deviations (precisions) of the measurement errors of the proposed measurement method, i.e., differences between the 3D images and the registered poses, were calculated across all the static trials of all subjects. Ensemble standard deviations of all the repeated registrations for the dynamic data of all subjects were obtained to indicate the repeatability of the registration method. RESULTS: The ensemble means (standard deviations) of the measurement errors of the femoral poses were less than 0.6 (0.6) mm for translations and -0.2° (1.3°) degrees for rotations. The corresponding values for the tibia were 0.5 (0.7) mm and -0.4° (1.1°), respectively. The ensemble means (standard deviations) of the measurement errors of knee joint poses were less than 0.9 (1.4) mm for translations and -0.3° (1.8°) degrees for rotations. For registration repeatability of dynamic tests, the ensemble standard deviations were all less than 1.2 mm for translations and 1.5° for rotations. CONCLUSIONS: With the accuracy and repeatability achieved, and without the use of ionizing radiation and multiple repetitive motions, the proposed method combining the novel real-time MR imaging promises to be a valuable tool for studying 3D knee kinematics noninvasively.

Intervertebral anticollision constraints improve out-of-plane translation accuracy of a single-plane fluoroscopy-to-CT registration method for measuring spinal motion.

PURPOSE: The study aimed to propose a new single-plane fluoroscopy-to-CT registration method integrated with intervertebral anticollision constraints for measuring three-dimensional (3D) intervertebral kinematics of the spine; and to evaluate the performance of the method without anticollision and with three variations of the anticollision constraints via an in vitro experiment. METHODS: The proposed fluoroscopy-to-CT registration approach, called the weighted edge-matching with anticollision (WEMAC) method, was based on the integration of geometrical anticollision constraints for adjacent vertebrae and the weighted edge-matching score (WEMS) method that matched the digitally reconstructed radiographs of the CT models of the vertebrae and the measured single-plane fluoroscopy images. Three variations of the anticollision constraints, namely, T-DOF, R-DOF, and A-DOF methods, were proposed. An in vitro experiment using four porcine cervical spines in different postures was performed to evaluate the performance of the WEMS and the WEMAC methods. RESULTS: The WEMS method gave high precision and small bias in all components for both vertebral pose and intervertebral pose measurements, except for relatively large errors for the out-of-plane translation component. The WEMAC method successfully reduced the out-of-plane translation errors for intervertebral kinematic measurements while keeping the measurement accuracies for the other five degrees of freedom (DOF) more or less unaltered. The means (standard deviations) of the out-of-plane translational errors were less than -0.5 (0.6) and -0.3 (0.8) mm for the T-DOF method and the R-DOF method, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed single-plane fluoroscopy-to-CT registration method reduced the out-of-plane translation errors for intervertebral kinematic measurements while keeping the measurement accuracies for the other five DOF more or less unaltered. With the submillimeter and subdegree accuracy, the WEMAC method was considered accurate for measuring 3D intervertebral kinematics during various functional activities for research and clinical applications.

Carotid stenting improves cognitive function in asymptomatic cerebral ischemia.

OBJECTIVES: Asymptomatic critical internal carotid artery (ICA) stenosis may lead to cognitive impairment. Carotid stenting (CS) may improve cerebral perfusion, but its impact on neuro-cognitive function has been controversial. METHODS: We prospectively enrolled 34 asymptomatic patients with unilateral ICA stenosis or occlusion, in whom CS was attempted. Computed tomography cerebral perfusion (CTP), and functional assessments including National Institutes of Health Stoke Scale (NIHSS), Bathel Index (BI), and a battery of neuropsychological tests including Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Alzheimer Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive Subtest (ADAS-Cog), verbal fluency, and Color Trail Making A and B, were done prior to and 3 months after the procedure. RESULTS: Successful CS was achieved in 28 of 34 patients (82%). Based on the baseline CTP finding and intervention result, patients were divided into three groups: group I (n=6) as ipsilateral cerebral ischemia with failed CS procedure, group II (n=17) as ipsilateral cerebral ischemia with successful CS procedure, and group III (n=11) as normal baseline CTP with successful CS procedure. The demographics and baseline cognitive performances were similar among the three groups. In group II, there were significant improvement in Alzheimer Disease Assessment Scale (pre 6.8 ± 4.3 vs post 4.9 ± 2.8, p=0.033), Mini-Mental State Examination Score (pre 25.8 ± 3.8 vs post 27.4 ± 3.5, p=0.007), and Color Trail test A (pre 120.4 ± 73.9s vs post 95.8 ± 57.6s, p=0.004) after CS. In groups I and III, however, no significant difference was observed in any of the cognitive tests. CONCLUSIONS: Successful CS improves neurocognitive function in asymptomatic ICA stenosis or occlusion with objective ipsilateral ischemia.

MRA Images Identification of the Artery Blood Vessel of the Knee with SOM LVQ Neural Networks as Auxiliary.

The ways of angiography are divided into two kinds at present: the invasive type and the non invasive type. Because the magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) has advantages of the non invasive type, thus people can accept MRA more easily. Presently, to diagnoses for the initial stage triage of the blood vessel on clinic by MRA mostly. We to be allowed to see clearly that the shape of lower limb artery which like the dendrite and the blood vessel is thick from the trunk to the thin branch, also we can see the narrow embolism and the blocked place through MRA. This study is aiming at the image of artery of blood vessel by MRA assay, and is attempting to use two-dimensional structure of SOM and LVQ to make out topologies for the shape of artery of blood vessel. We expect that MRA could be useful tools for earlier on the quick triage and auxiliary diagnosis of doctors. By actual examples truly prove that patients after peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD) treatment can diagnose effectively, shorten the time of patients waiting for reports and improve the whole efficiency of the medical treatment system.