Modules:N4ITKBiasFieldCorrection-Documentation-3.6

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Gallery of New Features


N4ITK Bias field correction

Prostate erMRI
After bias correction
Recovered bias field

General Information

Module Type & Category

Type: CLI

Category: Experimental

Authors, Collaborators & Contact

  • Author: Nick Tustison, UPenn (algorithm and ITK implementation)
  • Author: Andriy Fedorov, BWH (Slicer integration)
  • Contact: Andriy Fedorov, fedorov at bwh dot harvard dot edu

Module Description

This module is a CLI wrapper around the N4 bias field correction algorithm, which was presented by Nick Tustison in this Insight Journal publication. This module can be used to remove field inhomogeneity artifact from the image.

Usage

With the basic usage scenario, you only need to specify the input and output images. You can improve the performance of this module by specifying the binary mask for the region of interest in your input image. If this mask is not specified, the module will use Otsu thresholding algorithm to estimate the mask automatically.

In case you are not happy with the result of processing, you may need to experiment with the parameters described below. If you are still not satisfied with the result, you will need to study the relevant papers (see References section at the bottom of this page) and/or contact the Slicer and ITK user lists.

Use Cases, Examples

This module is especially appropriate for these use cases:

  • You observe smooth variation of the intensity over the tissue that should have intensity close to uniform
  • Your attempts to segment or register your data are not successful, and you are not sure what to do next

Examples of the module in use:

  • Correction of the bias in vervet MRI. Acquisition parameters: 3T GE scanner, single-channel dedicated RF coil (Litzcage, Doty Scientific, Columbia, SC); 3D SPGR sequence (TI 600ms, TE 3.276ms, TR 15.28ms; flip angle 15 deg; matrix 256x256; FOV 12cm; in-plane resolution 0.47 mm; slice thickness 0.5 mm).
Slice of the input test volume with apparent bias field and label outlines
Output image visually contains less inhomogeneity
Recovered bias field
  • Example 2

Tutorials

There are no tutorials available at this time.

However, you can use the images that we use to test the functionality of this module, and the output it generates with the default values of the parameters to experiment with the parameters:

Slice of the input test volume with apparent bias field and label outlines
Output image visually contains less inhomogeneity
Recovered bias field (zoom in to see the actual value in the background image)

Quick Tour of Features and Use

This section is under development!

A list panels in the interface, their features, what they mean, and how to use them. For instance:

  • Input panel:
    • First input
    • Second input
  • Parameters panel:
    • First parameter
    • Second parameter
  • Output panel:
    • First output
    • Second output
  • Viewing panel:
User Interface

Development

Notes from the Developer(s)

If you use this module in a Slicer installation compiled from source, it is very important that you compile in Release mode. The difference in performance can be as much as 10x between the Release mode and Debug mode (default mode used by Slicer build scripts). To ensure your installation uses Release mode, run the build script as follows:

Slicer3/Scripts/getbuildtest.tcl --release --clean

Algorithms used, library classes depended upon, use cases, etc.

Dependencies

This is a shared library module that uses Slicer Execution Model, and therefore requires CommandLineModules to be enabled.

Tests

On the Dashboard, these tests verify that the module is working on various platforms:

Known bugs

No reported bugs.

Usability issues

Follow this link to the Slicer3 bug tracker. Please select the usability issue category when browsing or contributing.

Source code & documentation

Links to the module's source code:

Source code:

Doxygen documentation:

More Information

Acknowledgment

The development of this module was partially supported by NIH grants R01 AA016748-01 and R01 CA111288, as well as by NA-MIC, NAC, NCIGT and the Slicer community.

References

  • Tustison N, Gee J N4ITK: Nick's N3 ITK Implementation For MRI Bias Field Correction, The Insight Journal 2009 January-June link
  • Tustison N, Avants B, Cook P, Gee J N4ITK: Improved N3 Bias Correction with Robust B-Spline Approximation, Proc. of ISBI'10, 2010
  • Tustison NJ, Avants BB, Cook PA, Zheng Y, Egan A, Yushkevich PA, Gee JC N4ITK: Improved N3 Bias Correction, IEEE Trans Med Imag, 2010 link