Spatial and temporal registration of CT and SPECT images: development and validation of a technique for in vivo three-dimensional semiquantitative analysis of bone.
The combined use of postoperative 3-dimensional CT and SPECT imaging provides a means of relating anatomy and physiology for the semiquantitative in vivo analysis of bone. This study focuses on the development and validation of a technique that accomplishes this through the registration of SPECT data to a 3-dimensional volume of interest (VOI) interactively defined on CT images.


METHODS
Five human cadaver heads served as anthropomorphic models for all experiments. Four cranial defects were created in each specimen with inlay and onlay split-skull bone grafts reconstructed to skull and malar recipient sites. To acquire all images, each specimen was landmarked with 1.6-mm ball bearings and CT scanned. Bone surfaces were coated with 99mTc-doped paint. The locations of the ball bearings were marked with paint doped with 111In. Separate SPECT scans were acquired using the energy windows of 99mTc and 111In.


RESULTS
Serial SPECT images aligned with an average root-mean-square (RMS) error of 3.8 mm (i.e., <1 pixel). CT-to-SPECT volume matching aligned with an RMS error of 7.8 mm. Total counts in CT-defined VOIs applied to SPECT data showed a strong linear correlation (r2 = 0.86) with true counts obtained from a dose calibrator.


CONCLUSIONS
The capability of this multimodality registration technique to anatomically localize and quantify radiotracer uptake is sufficiently accurate to warrant further assessment in an in vivo trial.
Bernstein
M P
MP
Department of Medical Imaging, Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Caldwell
C B
CB
Antonyshyn
O M
OM
Cooper
P W
PW
Ehrlich
L E
LE
D016025:Bone Transplantation; D003399:Craniotomy; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D012886:Skull / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed