Robust initialization for 2D/3D registration of knee implant models to single-plane fluoroscopy

A fully automated initialization method is proposed for the 2D/3D registration of 3D CAD models of knee implant components to a single-plane calibrated fluoroscopy. The algorithm matches edge segments, detected in the fluoroscopy image, with pre-computed libraries of expected 2D silhouettes of the implant components. Each library entry represents a different combination of out-of-plane registration transformation parameters. Library matching is performed by computing point-based 2D/2D registrations in between each library entry and each detected edge segment in the fluoroscopy image, resulting in an estimate of the in-plane registration transformation parameters. Point correspondences for registration are established by template matching of the bending patterns on the contours. A matching score for each individual 2D/2D registration is computed by evaluating the transformed library entry in an edge-encoded (characteristic) image, which is derived from the original fluoroscopy image. A matching scores accumulator is introduced to select and suggest one or more initial pose estimates. The proposed method is robust against occlusions and partial segmentations. Validation results are shown on simulated fluoroscopy images. In all cases a library match is found for each implant component which is very similar to the shape information in the fluoroscopy. The feasibility of the proposed method is demonstrated by initializing an intensity-based 2D/3D registration method with the automatically obtained estimation of the registration transformation parameters.