elastix: A Toolbox for Intensity-Based Medical Image Registration

• Published in: IEEE transactions on medical imaging Vol. 29; no. 1; pp. 196 - 205
• Main Authors: Klein, S., Staring, M., Murphy, K., Viergever, M.A., Pluim, J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States IEEE 01.01.2010; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Application software; Biomedical imaging; Collection; Computer programs; Cost function; Diagnostic Imaging - methods; elastix; Humans; Image processing; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted - methods; Image registration; Image segmentation; Medical; medical imaging; Methods; Models, Biological; MONOS devices; Normal Distribution; open source; Open source software; Optimization methods; Product introduction; Software; Spatial resolution; Tasks; Tomography
• ISSN: 0278-0062; 1558-254X; 1558-254X
• DOI: 10.1109/TMI.2009.2035616

Medical image registration is an important task in medical image processing. It refers to the process of aligning data sets, possibly from different modalities (e.g., magnetic resonance and computed tomography), different time points (e.g., follow-up scans), and/or different subjects (in case of population studies). A large number of methods for image registration are described in the literature. Unfortunately, there is not one method that works for all applications. We have therefore developed elastix, a publicly available computer program for intensity-based medical image registration. The software consists of a collection of algorithms that are commonly used to solve medical image registration problems. The modular design of elastix allows the user to quickly configure, test, and compare different registration methods for a specific application. The command-line interface enables automated processing of large numbers of data sets, by means of scripting. The usage of elastix for comparing different registration methods is illustrated with three example experiments, in which individual components of the registration method are varied.