The establishment of the method of three dimension volumetric fusion of emission and transmission images for PET imaging

Objective To establish the method of three dimension volumetric fusion of emission and transmission images for PET imaging. Methods The volume data of emission and transmission images acquired with Siemens ECAT HR + PET scanner were transfered to PC computer by local area network. The PET volume data were converted into 8 bit byte type, and scaled to the range of 0～255. The data coordinates of emission and transmission images were normalized by three-dimensional coordinate conversion in the same way. The images were fused with the mode of alpha-blending. The accuracy of image fusion was confirmed by its clinical application in 13 cases. Results The three dimension volumetric fusion of emission and transmission images clearly displayed the silhouette and anatomic configuration in chest, including chest wall, lung, heart, mediastinum, et al. Forty-eight lesions in chest in 13 cases were accurately located by the image fusion. Conclusions The volume data of emission and transmission images acquired with Siemens ECAT HR + PET scanner have the same data coordinate. The three dimension fusion software can conveniently used for the three dimension volumetric fusion of emission and transmission images, and also can correctly locate the lesions in chest.