Generative atlases and atlas selection for C11-PIB PET-PET registration of elderly, mild cognitive impaired and Alzheimer disease patients

Abstract

β-amyloid (Aβ) plaques are one of the neuropathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and can be quantified using the marker 11C PiB. The registration of 11C PIB PET images to an atlas allows spatial normalization and statistical comparisons. This generally involves a co-registration of the PET and MR which is then registered to an MR atlas. The use of PET to PET atlas registration is much less common, although important as MR scans are not always available. In this paper we present a study on using PET to PET atlas registration with the corresponding MR registration used as the reference standard. Average affine and non-rigidly aligned PET Atlases were created, as well as a principa..