Hepatic hemangiomas: diagnosis with fusion of MR, CT, and Tc-99m-labeled red blood cell SPECT images

• A method of image analysis was developed for correlation of hemangiomas detected at computed tomography {(CT)} and/or magnetic resonance {(MR)} imaging with increased blood pool activity evident at single photon emission {CT} {(SPECT)} performed after labeling of red blood cells with technetium-99m. Image analysis was performed in 20 patients with 35 known hepatic hemangiomas. After section thickness and pixel sizes of the different studies were matched, intrinsic landmarks were chosen to identify anatomically corresponding locations. Regions of interest {(ROIs)} drawn on the {CT} and/or {MR} images were translated, rotated, and reprojected to match the areas of interest on the corresponding {SPECT} images by means of a two-dimensional polynomial-based warping algorithm. Analysis of {ROIs} on 30 {SPECT-MR} and 20 {SPECT-CT} pairs of registered images provided absolute confirmation that 34 suspected hemangiomas identified on {SPECT} images correlated exactly with lesions seen on {CT} and/or {MR} images. Accuracy of fusion was within an average of 1.5 pixels +/- 0.8 (+/- 1 standard deviation). The technique enabled diagnostic confirmation of hemangiomas as small as 1.0 cm and proved useful for evaluating lesions located adjacent to intrahepatic vessels.

Subject headings

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Radiologi och bildbehandling (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Medical Imaging (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Adult

Aged

Erythrocytes

Female

Hemangioma

Humans

Image Processing

{Computer-Assisted}

Liver

Liver Neoplasms

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Male

Middle Aged

Tomography

{Emission-Computed}

{Single-Photon}

Tomography

{X-Ray} Computed

SRA - ICT

SRA - Informations- och kommunikationsteknik

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)