Motion Artifacts Compensation in DCE-MRI Framework Using Active Contour Model

Dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) is a noninvasive clinical technique devoted to the study of lesions in organs (ie, tumor), through the analysis of perfusion's dynamic of a suitable contrast agent (CA) in the tissues. The structures to be analyzed are natural in biomedical applications, nonrigid, and typically dynamic because they can change position, shape, and brightness. This often yields erroneous results. A challenge for a correct analysis of the DCE is to compensate deformations and displacements of organs/lesions due to patient breathing, interior peristalsis, and so forth. The compensation for such artifacts is complex because signal intensities varies over time due to the diffusion of the CA. To compensate such artifacts we describe, in this chapter, a specifically developed tracking motion procedure, based on a suitable formulation of active contour technique. © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.