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Spinal needle injections for back pain management are frequently carried out in hospitals and radiological clinics. Currently, these procedures are performed under fluoroscopy or CT guidance in specialized interventional radiology facilities. As an alternative, the use of inexpensive ultrasound image guidance promises to improve the efficacy and safety of these procedures. We propose to eliminate or reduce the need for ionizing radiation, by creating and registering a statistical shape model of the lumbar vertebrae to 3D ultrasound volumes of patient, using a groupwise registration algorithm. From a total of 35 patient CT volumes, a statistical shape model of the L2, L3 and L4 vertebrae is built, including the mean shape, and principal modes of variation. The statistical shape model is registered to the 3D ultrasound by interchangeably optimizing the model parameters and their relative poses. We also use a biomechanical model to constrain the relative motion of the models throughout the registration process. Validation is performed on three tissue mimicking-phantoms designed to preserve realistic curvature of the spine. We compare pairwise and groupwise registration of the statistical shape model of the spine and demonstrate that clinically acceptable mean target error registration of 2.4 mm can be achieved with the proposed method. Registration results also show that the groupwise registration outperforms the pairwise in terms of success rate. / Thesis (Master, Electrical & Computer Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2010-09-27 20:08:01.828

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We consider optimal design for changepoint problems with particular attention paid to situations where the only possible change is in the mean. Optimal design for changepoint problems has only been addressed in an unpublished doctoral thesis, and in only one journal article, which was in a frequentist setting. The simplest situation we consider is that of a stochastic process that may undergo a, change at an unknown instant in some interval. The experimenter can take n measurements and is faced with one or more of the following optimal design problems: Where should these n observations be taken in order to best test for a change somewhere in the interval? Where should the observations be taken in order to best test for a change in a specified subinterval? Assuming that a change will take place, where should the observations be taken so that that one may best estimate the before-change mean as well as the after-change mean? We take a Bayesian approach, with a risk based on squared error loss, as a design criterion function for estimation, and a risk based on generalized 0-1 loss, for testing. We also use the Spezzaferri design criterion function for model discrimination, as an alternative criterion function for testing. By insisting that all observations are at least a minimum distance apart in order to ensure rough independence, we find the optimal design for all three problems. We ascertain the optimal designs by writing the design criterion functions as functions of the design measure, rather than of the designs themselves. We then use the geometric form of the design measure space and the concavity of the criterion function to find the optimal design measure. There is a straightforward correspondence between the set of design measures and the set of designs. Our approach is similar in spirit, although rather different in detail, from that introduced by Kiefer. In addition, we consider design for estimation of the changepoint itself, and optimal designs for the multipath changepoint problem. We demonstrate why the former problem most likely has a prior-dependent solution while the latter problems, in their most general settings, are complicated by the lack of concavity of the design criterion function. / Nous considérons, dans cette dissertation, les plans d'expérience bayésiens optimauxpour les problèmes de point de rupture avec changement d'espérance. Un cas de pointde rupture avec changement d'espérance à une seule trajectoire se présente lorsqu'uneséquence de données est prélevée le long d'un axe temporelle (ou son équivalent) etque leur espérance change de valeur. Ce changement, s'il survient, se produit à unendroit sur l'axe inconnu de l'expérimentateur. Cet endroit est appelé "point derupture". Le fait que la position du point de rupture soit inconnue rend les tests etl'inférence difficiles dans les situations de point de rupture à une seule trajectoire.