Automatic registration and fusion of high resolution micro-CT and lung perfusion SPECT images of the rat

Small animal imaging can provide high-throughput phenotypic data for functional genomic studies and better mechanistic understanding of disease. Fusion of anatomical and functional images will aid interpretation of functional images having relatively little anatomical detail. In this study, we are investigating automatic registration and fusion visualization methods for micro-CT and SPECT images of rat lung. The immediate application is studies of pulmonary perfusion in a healthy rat and one with an occluded left pulmonary artery. Registration experiments were performed on images acquired from rats and a phantom. Fusion visualization showed excellent registration results. Quantitative measures such as distances and perimeters from phantom results show that the registration is quite accurate.