Joint T1 and Brain Fiber Diffeomorphic Registration Using the Demons

Non-linear image registration is one of the most challenging task in medical image analysis. In this work, we propose an extension of the well-established diffeomorphic Demons registration algorithm to take into account geometric constraints. Combining the deformation field induced by the image and the geometry, we define a mathematically sound framework to jointly register images and geometric descriptors such as fibers or sulcal lines. We demonstrate this framework by registering simultaneously T1 images and 50 fiber bundles consistently extracted in 12 subjects. Results show the improvement of fibers alignment while maintaining, and sometimes improving image registration. Further comparisons with non-linear T1 and tensor registration demonstrate the superiority of the Geometric Demons over their purely iconic counterparts.