Non-rigid registration of cardiac MR: application to motion modelling and atlas-based segmentation

Three-dimensional (3D) and four-dimensional (4D) imaging of the heart is a rapidly developing area of research in medical imaging. Recent advances in development of MR imaging for fast spatio-temporal cardiac imaging have led to an increased interest in the use of MR imaging for functional analysis of the cardiovascular system. Segmentation of left and right ventricle and modelling of myocardial motion provide important information for quantitative functional analysis. In this paper we show how non-rigid registration techniques can be used to solve these problems in cardiac MR images.