Comparison of automatic image registration uncertainty for three IGRT systems using a male pelvis phantom

A series of phantom images using the CIRS Virtual Human Male Pelvis was acquired across available dose ranges for three image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT) imaging systems: Elekta XVI CBCT, Varian TrueBeam CBCT, and TomoTherapy MV CT. Each image was registered to a fan-beam CT within the XVI software 100 times with random initial offsets. The residual registration error was analyzed to assess the role of imaging hardware and reconstruction in the uncertainty of the IGRT process. Residual translation errors were similar for all systems and < 0.5 mm. Over the clinical dose range for prostate IGRT images (10-25 mGy), all imaging systems provided acceptable matches in > 90% of registrations when incorporating residual rotational error using a dual quaternion derived distance metric. Outside normal dose settings, large uncertainties were observed at very low and very high dose levels. No trend between initial offset and residual registration error was observed. Patient images may incur higher uncertainties than this phantom study; however, these results encourage automatic matching for standard dose settings with review by treatment staff.