3D movement correction of CT brain perfusion image data of patients with acute ischemic stroke

Head movement during CT brain perfusion (CTP) acquisition can deteriorate the accuracy of CTP analysis. Most CTP software packages can only correct in-plane movement and are limited to small ranges. The purpose of this study is to validate a novel 3D correction method for head movement during CTP acquisition.

Thirty-five CTP datasets that were classified as defective due to head movement were included in this study. All CTP time frames were registered with non-contrast CT data using a 3D rigid registration method. Location and appearance of ischemic area in summary maps derived from original and registered CTP datasets were qualitative compared with follow-up non-contrast CT. A quality score (QS) of 0 to 3 was used to express the degree of agreement. Furthermore, experts compared the quality of both summary maps and assigned the improvement score (IS) of the CTP analysis, ranging from -2 (much worse) to 2 (much better).

Summary maps generated from corrected CTP significantly agreed better with appearance of infarct on follow-up CT with mean QS 2.3 versus mean QS 1.8 for summary maps from original CTP (P = 0.024). In comparison to original CTP data, correction resulted in a quality improvement with average IS 0.8: 17 % worsened (IS = -2, -1), 20 % remained unchanged (IS = 0), and 63 % improved (IS = +1, +2).

The proposed 3D movement correction improves the summary map quality for CTP datasets with severe head movement.