Deformable image registration with awareness of computed tomography (ct) reconstruction area

A method to improve computed tomography (CT) to cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) registration, comprising:

• receiving, by a deformable image registration (DIR) system, a plurality of CT images generated by CT-scanning of an object;
• receiving, by the DIR system, a plurality of CBCT images generated by CBCT-scanning of the object;
• generating, by the DIR system, an image mask based on Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) information extracted from a specific CBCT image selected from the plurality of CBCT images, wherein for a specific pixel in the specific CBCT image, the image mask contains a corresponding data-field indicating whether the specific pixel contains image data generated based on the CBCT-scanning of the object;
• and
• generating, by the DIR system, a plurality of registered images by performing a DIR between the plurality of CT images and the plurality of CBCT images utilizing the image mask.

A registration-enhancement system configured to improve computed tomography (CT) to cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) registration, comprising:

• an image-receiving module configured to
• receive a CT image generated by CT-scanning of an object, and
• receive a CBCT image generated by CBCT-scanning of the object;
• a mask-generating module configured to
• generate an image mask based on Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) information extracted from the CBCT image, wherein for a specific pixel in the CBCT image, the image mask contains a corresponding data-field indicating whether the specific pixel contains image data generated based on the CBCT-scanning of the object;
• and
• a deformable image registration (DIR) module configured to
• generate a registered image by utilizing the image mask to perform a DIR between the CT image and the CBCT image.