Automatic pubic arch localization in 3D ultrasound images using pre-operative image information for prostate biopsy and brachytherapy

Transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) is widely used as the primary imaging modality for transperineal prostate biopsy and treatment Along the passage of the biopsy needle or seed implantation, the pubic arch is a potential barrier and required to be identified before the planning. This paper presented a method that can automatically locate the pubic arch in three-dimensional transrectal ultrasound images, utilizing the extracted pubic arch information from pre-operative MRI or CT images of the same patient. Based on the true surface description of the pubic arch segmented from the pre-operative images, a surface-to-volume image registration technique was applied to automatically search for the best fit between the pubic surface and its TRUS image volume. The self-registration test showed that our method has good accuracy and consistency. Similar consistency was also found in the experiments using three sets of patient data.