Composite display of digital images for medical diagnosis

For the purpose of improving diagnostic efficacy integrated evaluation of various medical images is very important. We attempted to display the digital images of different modalities, such as nuclear image and X-ray CT image, simultaneously and the usefulness of this method is reported. LFOV gamma camera and scintillation scanner (Elscint) were used for nuclear imaging and CT/T 8800 (G.E.) was used for XCT imaging. Nuclear images stored by Scintipac 200 (Shimadzu) were transferred using magnetic tape to the mini-computer attached to CT system. Our computer programs include (1) composite display of scintigram and XCT image, (2) reconstruction and display of RCT image associated with coronal and sagittal images, (3) superimposing display of RCT image and XCT contour image and (4) cine mode display of multi-view original images for RCT reconstruction. Composite display of nuclear image and XCT image made it easier to evaluate each image complementarily, as regional function image and morphological image respectively. Superimposing display of RCT image and XCT contour image was useful for identification of functioning tissues in relation to the adjacent organ structures. Cine mode display of rotating original images for RCT was helpful for three dimensional observation of nuclear image. (author)