Large deformation diffeomorphic registration of diffusion-weighted imaging data

Registration plays an important role in group analysis of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) data. It can be used to build a reference anatomy for investigating structural variation or tracking changes in white matter. Unlike traditional scalar image registration where spatial alignment is the only focus, registration of DWI data requires both spatial alignment of structures and reorientation of local signal profiles. As such, DWI registration is much more complex and challenging than scalar image registration. Although a variety of algorithms has been proposed to tackle the problem, most of them are restricted by the diffusion model used for registration, making it difficult to fit to the registered data a different model. In this paper we describe a method that allows any diffusion model to be fitted after registration for subsequent multifaceted analysis. This is achieved by directly aligning DWI data using a large deformation diffeomorphic registration framework. Our algorithm seeks the optimal coordinate mapping by simultaneously considering structural alignment, local signal profile reorientation, and deformation regularization. Our algorithm also incorporates a multi-kernel strategy to concurrently register anatomical structures at different scales. We demonstrate the efficacy of our approach using in vivo data and report detailed qualitative and quantitative results in comparison with several different registration strategies.