Image registration using hierarchical b-splines

Hierarchical B-splines have been widely used for shape modeling since their discovery by Forsey and Bartels. In this paper, we present an application of this concept, in the form of free-form deformation, to image registration by matching two images at increasing levels of detail. Results using MRI brain data are presented that demonstrate high degrees of matching while unnecessary distortions are avoided. We compare our results with the nonlinear ICP (Iterative Closest Point) algorithm (used for landmark-based registration) and optical flow (used for intensity-based registration).