The present application relates to the medical imaging systems and methods. It finds particular application in conjunction with multi-modality systems, such as PET-CT systems. It will be appreciated that the invention is also applicable to the various combinations of SPECT, CT, ultrasound, MRI, fluoroscopy, and the like.
In multi-modality tomographic systems, two or more different sensing modalities are used to locate or measure different constituents in the object space. In the PET-CT system, the PET creates images of high metabolic activity in the body, rather than creating images of surrounding anatomy. CT scans allow doctors to see the internal structures within the human body. Before having a PET-CT scan, the patient receives a dose of a radiopharmaceutical. The pharmaceutical is carried through the blood and concentrates in a particular organ or region and causes radiation to be emitted from the blood and this organ or region. During the scan, tracings of the emitted radiation are detected by the system creating an image of the distribution of the radiopharmaceutical in the patient. The image can show the circulatory system and/or the relative absorption of the radiopharmaceutical in various regions or organs. Integration of the anatomical data from the CT scan with the metabolic data from the PET scan in the PET-CT image gives physicians visual information to determine if disease is present, the location and extent of disease, and track how rapidly it is spreading. The PET-CT system is particularly helpful in difficult-to-treat regions (e.g. head and neck area, mediastinum, postsurgical abdomen) and localization of the treatment area for the patients receiving radiation therapy or chemotherapy.
As each medical imaging modality may provide complementary information on the imaged subject, it is desirable to combine all available information for review. There is a growing demand for a medical imaging review system to be able to handle multiple patients and multiple modalities over a temporally spaced series of imaging sessions. However, the current approach for viewing of the multiple patients is to load patients one at a time, which is cumbersome from a workflow standard point of view and also renders patient comparison difficult if not impossible.
Another problem arises in handling multiplicity of patients and modalities. One problem, or example, is the registration of images from multiple modalities or the same modality over multiple imaging sessions. Current methods allow handling of only few images with the assumption that the first volumetric image is fixed. Another problem is in providing support when conflicting requirements due to different needs exist. One approach is to provide customizable display protocols. However, the customizable display protocols make a tightly integrated viewing environment difficult to define and implement.
The present application provides new and improved methods and apparatuses which overcome the above-referenced problems and others.