Three-dimensional registration and fusion of ultrasound and MRI using major vessels as fiducial markers

This paper describes fusion of three-dimensional (3-D) ultrasound (US) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data sets, without the assistance of external fiducial markers or external position sensors. Fusion of these two modalities combines real-time 3-D ultrasound scans of soft tissue with the larger anatomical framework from MRI. The complementary information available from multiple imaging modalities warrants the development of robust fusion capabilities. We describe the data acquisition, specialized algorithms, and results for 3-D fused data from phantom studies and in vivo studies of the normal human vasculature and musculoskeletal systems.