Multi-modality image combination: five techniques for simultaneous MR-SPECT display.

Increasingly, images are being acquired of the same patient using two or more diagnostic imaging modalities. If one such modality is MRI then a data set showing essentially anatomical information is produced. If the second is SPECT using HMPAO then a data set showing cerebral perfusion is also produced. The ability to conjoin such anatomical and functional data is an important goal in radiology. In this technical report five display strategies are investigated as a means of conveying simultaneously to the radiologist all the information from two such data sets. Illustrative examples are given for each display technique. Preliminary observations are made regarding comprehensibility, information loss and efficiency in conveying all the information simultaneously, for all five techniques.