FMDIB: A software tool for fusion of MRI and DHC-SPECT images of brain

Abstract

Brain disorders are divided into two categories: anatomic and metabolic. Since brain disorders initially appear as metabolic abnormalities and ultimately result in anatomic defects, it is necessary to analyze the metabolic along with the anatomic aspect of the brain tissue in the preliminary stages of diagnosis to greatly increase the chances of a cure. It is possible that metabolic abnormalities exist without an anatomic defect such as Alzheimer disease. The brain anatomic images may achieve from MRI and physiologic and metabolic brain data can achieve from DHC-SPECT or PET system when a radiopharmaceutical such as FDG have been injected to the patient. For fusion of the brain MRI and DHC-SPECT images obtained from individual scanners, we developed the userfriendly FMDIB software in the MATLAB environment. With the help of this software, we resolved the geometrical misalignment of the brain images and subsequently co-registered them with a 1 mm precision. This software enabled us to perform the three dimensional rendering of the image, re-slicing the image with thickness of 1 to 3 mm, slicing the two dimensional DHC-SPECT projections into an arbitrary direction. © 2009 Springer-Verlag.