@article {733, title = {Joint Groupwise Registration and ADC Estimation in the Liver using a B-Value Weighted Metric}, journal = {Magnetic Resonance Imaging}, volume = {46}, year = {2018}, month = {2018}, pages = {1-8}, type = {Original Contribution}, chapter = {1}, abstract = {

The purpose of this work is to develop a groupwise elastic multimodal registration algorithm for robust ADC estimation in the liver on multiple breath hold diffusion weighted images.

We introduce a joint formulation to simultaneously solve both the registration and the estimation problems. In order to avoid non-reliable transformations and undesirable noise amplification, we have included appropriate smoothness constraints for both problems. Our metric incorporates the ADC estimation residuals, which are inversely weighted according to the signal content in each diffusion weighted image.

Results show that the joint formulation provides a statistically significant improvement in the accuracy of the ADC estimates. Reproducibility has also been measured on real data in terms of the distribution of ADC differences obtained from different\ b-values\ subsets.\ 

The proposed algorithm is able to effectively deal with both the presence of motion and the geometric distortions, increasing accuracy and reproducibility in diffusion parameters estimation.

}, keywords = {ADC Estimation, Diffusion Weighted Imaging, Groupwise Registration, Joint Optimization, Residual Minimization Metric}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mri.2017.10.002}, url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0730725X17302187}, author = {Santiago Sanz-Est{\'e}banez and I{\~n}aki Rabanillo-Viloria and J Royuela-del-Val and Santiago Aja-Fern{\'a}ndez and Carlos Alberola-Lopez} } @article {779, title = {Robust Estimation of the Apparent Diffusion Coefficient Invariant to Acquisition Noise and Physiological Motion}, journal = {Magnetic Resonance Imaging}, volume = {53}, year = {2018}, pages = {123-133}, abstract = {

In this work we have proposed a methodology for the estimation of the apparent diffusion coefficient in the body from multiple breath hold diffusion weighted images, which is robust to two preeminent confounding factors: noise and motion during acquisition. We have extended a method for the joint groupwise multimodal registration and apparent diffusion coefficient estimation, previously proposed by the authors, in order to correct the bias that arises from the non-Gaussianity of the data and the registration procedure. Results show that the proposed methodology provides a statistically significant improvement both in robustness for displacement fields calculation and in terms of accuracy for the apparent diffusion coefficient estimation as compared with traditional sequential approaches. Reproducibility has also been measured on real data in terms of the distribution of apparent diffusion coefficient differences obtained from different b-values subsets. Our proposal has shown to be able to effectively correct the estimation bias by introducing additional computationally light procedures to the original method, thus providing robust apparent diffusion coefficient maps in the liver and allowing an accurate and reproducible analysis of the tissue.

}, keywords = {Acquisition Noise, Apparent Diffusion Coefficient, Diffusion Weighted Imaging, Multimodal Groupwise Registration, Patient Movement Correction}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mri.2018.07.005}, url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0730725X18300687}, author = {Santiago Sanz-Est{\'e}banez and Tomasz Pieciak and Carlos Alberola-L{\'o}pez and Santiago Aja-Fern{\'a}ndez} }