Validation of a diffeomorphic registration algorithm using true deformation computed from thin plate spline interpolation

Despite the inter and intraobserver variabilities, manual contours are commonly used as surrogates for ground truth in the validation process for nonrigid medical image registration. In contrast, this study proposes the use of thin plate spline interpolation to create a true deformation field. A diffeomorphic registration method was compared to the true deformation field along with three other algorithms and was evaluated on simulated cardiac motion deformation over 10 subjects from the Automated Cardiac Diagnosis Challenge (ACDC) dataset. Two sequential registration approaches were undertaken: with respect to the first frame, and with respect to the previous frame. The Dice score was calculated between the simulated and warped contours for the two approaches: diffeomorphic registration method =0.991 and 0.997, RealTITracker (L
₂
L
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method) = 0.971 and 0.977, RealTITracker (L
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L
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method) = 0.975 and 0.978, and Elastix = 0.976 and 0.994. The results demonstrate the robust performance of the diffeomorphic registration method.Clinical relevance This establishes a validation of a registration method that can be used for segmentation of chambers of the heart.