A new automated method for three-dimensional registration of MR images of the head

A new technique for three-dimensional image registration was developed and tested using T1 and T2 weighted Magnetic Resonance image studies of the head. The method uses the fuzzy c-means classification algorithm for outlining the surface contours and then minimizes iteratively the mean squared value of the voxel per voxel weighted ratio of the two trilinearly interpolated cubic voxel volumes. A total of 200 two-dimensional and 240 three-dimensional registration experiments were performed and showed that the method is signal intensity independent, it has registration accuracy better than 1 degree for rotations and 1 voxel for translations and it is not affected by the deterioration in the imaging resolution for voxel sizes up to 1.8 mms.