Multi-modality medical image registration using support vector machines

The registration of multi-modality medical images is an important tool in surgical application. We presented a method of computing different modality medical images registration of the same patient. It incorporates prior joint intensity distribution between the two imaging modalities based on registered training images. The prior joint intensity distribution is modeled by support vector machine. Results aligning CT/MR and Pet/MR scans demonstrate that it can attain sub-voxel registration accuracy. Furthermore, it is a fast registration method because support vector machine solution is sparse.