Medical Image Fusion: Clinical Applications and Future Development. A literature review

Medical image fusion involves using multiple radiologic images of the desired region of the patient’s body, co-displaying them both at once and creating a joint image. Because image fusion provides more accurate and precise data, the technique reduces overall operative time, complexity and risk of the operation itself. The fact that images of different scans can provide different information on the same anatomical parts of the body means image fusion is a perspective technology for various clinical fields, including oncology, cardiology and neurology. Aim. The point of this article is to present medical image fusion, its history, technique, technical difficulties, clinical applications and future development. Methods. Research papers were selected from the computer bibliographic database PubMed. Conclusion. Image fusion can noticeably reduce the radiation dose for the patient and improve the outcome of the procedure. Though there are still a couple of drawbacks that are expected to be eliminated in the future advancements, even today image fusion is a powerful tool that in the hands of experienced radiologists can make complicated procedures like biopsy, aneurysm repair, carotid stenting, and endoleak embolisation safer, easier and faster.