Multi-modal deformable image registration using untrained neural networks

Nguyen, Quang Luong Nhat, Cao, Ruiming, Waller, Laura

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence 

Image registration techniques usually assume that the images to be registered are of a certain type (e.g. single- vs. multi-modal, 2D vs. 3D, rigid vs. deformable) and there lacks a general method that can work for data under all conditions. We propose a registration method that utilizes neural networks for image representation. Our method uses untrained networks with limited representation capacity as an implicit prior to guide for a good registration. Unlike previous approaches that are specialized for specific data types, our method handles both rigid and non-rigid, as well as single- and multi-modal registration, without requiring changes to the model or objective function. We have performed a comprehensive evaluation study using a variety of datasets and demonstrated promising performance.