[The multimodal integration, correlation and fusion of morphology and function: the methods and initial clinical applications].

Besides the pure visual diagnosis of morphology in comparison with function, digital multimodal image analysis is steadily gaining in importance. Digital image processing is used in integration, correlation and fusion of topographically identical image data. After defining these terms and describing the acquisition techniques and influence parameters, this article reviews the methods of multimodal image processing, with emphasis on correlation methods. It also gives a short description of special methods in nuclear medicine. The clinical part briefly reviews the clinical use as well as the progress achieved and the benefits expected for diagnostic applications.