Deformable registration of multi-modal data including rigid structures

Multi-modality imaging studies are becoming more widely utilized in the analysis of medical data. Anatomical data from CT and MRI are useful for analyzing or further processing functional data from techniques such as PET and SPECT. When data are not acquired simultaneously, even when these data are acquired on a dual-imaging device using the same bed, motion can occur that requires registration between the reconstructed image volumes. As the human torso can allow non-rigid motion, this type of motion should be estimated and corrected. We report a deformation registration technique that utilizes rigid registration for bony structures, while allowing elastic transformation of soft tissue to more accurately register the entire image volume.