Pixel-feature hybrid fusion for PET/CT images.

Color blending is a popular display method for functional and anatomic image fusion. The underlay image is typically displayed in grayscale, and the overlay image is displayed in pseudo colors. This pixel-level fusion provides too much information for reviewers to analyze quickly and effectively and clutters the display. To improve the fusion image reviewing speed and reduce the information clutter, a pixel-feature hybrid fusion method is proposed and tested for PET/CT images. Segments of the colormap are selectively masked to have a few discrete colors, and pixels displayed in the masked colors are made transparent. The colormap thus creates a false contouring effect on overlay images and allows the underlay to show through to give contours an anatomic context. The PET standardized uptake value (SUV) is used to control where colormap segments are masked. Examples show that SUV features can be extracted and blended with CT image instantaneously for viewing and diagnosis, and the non-feature part of the PET image is transparent. The proposed pixel-feature hybrid fusion highlights PET SUV features on CT images and reduces display clutters. It is easy to implement and can be used as complementarily to existing pixel-level fusion methods.