Submillimeter-Accurate Marker Localization within Low Gradient Magnetic Particle Imaging Tomograms

Magnetic Particle Imaging (MPI) achieves a high temporal resolution, which opens up a wide range of real-time medical applications such as device tracking and navigation. These applications usually rely on automated techniques for finding and localizing devices and fiducial markers in medical images. In this work, we show that submillimeter-accurate automatic marker localization from low gradient MPI tomograms with a spatial resolution of several millimeters is possible. Markers are initially identified within the tomograms by a thresholding-based segmentation algorithm. Subsequently, their positions are accurately determined by calculating the center of mass of the gray values inside the pre-segmented regions. A series of phantom measurements taken at full temporal resolution (46 Hz) is used to analyze statistical and systematical errors and to discuss the performance and stability of the automatic submillimeter-accurate marker localization algorithm.

[1]  B Gleich,et al.  Weighted iterative reconstruction for magnetic particle imaging , 2010, Physics in medicine and biology.

[2]  Tobias Knopp,et al.  Increasing the sensitivity for stem cell monitoring in system-function based magnetic particle imaging , 2016, Physics in medicine and biology.

[3]  B Gleich,et al.  Three-dimensional real-time in vivo magnetic particle imaging , 2009, Physics in medicine and biology.

[4]  Patrick W. Goodwill,et al.  Magnetic Particle Imaging tracks the long-term fate of in vivo neural cell implants with high image contrast , 2015, Scientific Reports.

[5]  Bo Zheng,et al.  Quantitative Magnetic Particle Imaging Monitors the Transplantation, Biodistribution, and Clearance of Stem Cells In Vivo , 2016, Theranostics.

[6]  T Knopp,et al.  Geometry planning and image registration in magnetic particle imaging using bimodal fiducial markers. , 2016, Medical physics.

[7]  Bernhard Gleich,et al.  Micro-magnetic simulation study on the magnetic particle imaging performance of anisotropic mono-domain particles , 2012, Physics in medicine and biology.

[8]  R.J. Maciunas,et al.  An automatic technique for finding and localizing externally attached markers in CT and MR volume images of the head , 1996, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

[9]  Bernhard Gleich,et al.  Signal encoding in magnetic particle imaging: properties of the system function , 2009, BMC Medical Imaging.

[10]  Patrick Vogel,et al.  $\mu $ MPI—Initial Experiments With an Ultrahigh Resolution MPI , 2015, IEEE Transactions on Magnetics.

[11]  Lincs Gem,et al.  Subpixel accuracy location estimation from digital signals , 2016 .

[12]  Jochen Franke,et al.  Magnetic Particle Imaging: A Resovist based Marking Technology for Guide Wires and Catheters for Vascular Interventions. , 2016, IEEE transactions on medical imaging.

[13]  M. Bock,et al.  [An algorithm for passive marker localization in interventional MRI]. , 2007, Zeitschrift fur medizinische Physik.

[14]  B Gleich,et al.  Nanoparticle encapsulation in red blood cells enables blood-pool magnetic particle imaging hours after injection , 2013, Physics in medicine and biology.

[15]  William R. Brody,et al.  Digital Subtraction Angiography , 1982, IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science.

[16]  T. Buzug,et al.  Dynamic single-domain particle model for magnetite particles with combined crystalline and shape anisotropy , 2015 .

[17]  B Gleich,et al.  First experimental evidence of the feasibility of multi-color magnetic particle imaging , 2015, Physics in medicine and biology.

[18]  Bernhard Gleich,et al.  Tomographic imaging using the nonlinear response of magnetic particles , 2005, Nature.

[19]  Patrick W. Goodwill,et al.  The X-Space Formulation of the Magnetic Particle Imaging Process: 1-D Signal, Resolution, Bandwidth, SNR, SAR, and Magnetostimulation , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging.

[20]  Patrick W. Goodwill,et al.  Magnetostimulation Limits in Magnetic Particle Imaging , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging.

[21]  O. Woywode,et al.  Human PNS and SAR study in the frequency range from 24 to 162 kHz , 2013, 2013 International Workshop on Magnetic Particle Imaging (IWMPI).

[22]  T Knopp,et al.  Online reconstruction of 3D magnetic particle imaging data , 2016, Physics in medicine and biology.

[23]  Bernhard Gleich,et al.  Magnetic Particle imaging : Visualization of Instruments for Cardiovascular Intervention 1 , 2012 .

[24]  Bernhard Gleich,et al.  Analysis of a 3-D System Function Measured for Magnetic Particle Imaging , 2012, IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging.

[25]  Tobias Knopp,et al.  Magnetic Particle / Magnetic Resonance Imaging: In-Vitro MPI-Guided Real Time Catheter Tracking and 4D Angioplasty Using a Road Map and Blood Pool Tracer Approach , 2016, PloS one.

[26]  Thorsten M. Buzug,et al.  Prediction of the Spatial Resolution of Magnetic Particle Imaging Using the Modulation Transfer Function of the Imaging Process , 2011, IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging.

[27]  Justin J. Konkle,et al.  Magnetic Particle Imaging With Tailored Iron Oxide Nanoparticle Tracers , 2015, IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging.