Systems and methods for functional imaging

1. A system comprising:

a structural imaging acquisition unit configured to perform a structural scan to acquire structural imaging information of a patient;

a functional imaging acquisition unit configured to perform a functional scan to acquire functional imaging information of a patient;

one or more processors configured to:

generate a tissue-specific anatomical probability map using the structural imaging information;

generate a tissue-non-specific anatomical probability map using the structural imaging information;

generate local combined anatomical probability weights using the tissue-specific anatomical probability map, the tissue-non-specific anatomical probability map, and the functional image data;

re-distribute the functional image data using the local combined anatomical probability weights to provide re-distributed functional volumetric data; and

generate an image using the re-distributed functional volumetric data.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine the tissue-specific anatomical probability map using image intensities of the structural imaging information.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine the tissue-non-specific anatomical probability map using image gradients of the structural imaging information.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to:

determine, for a source voxel and a target voxel, a direction of an activity difference;

determine a difference on the tissue-non-specific anatomical probability map between the source voxel and the target voxel;

if the activity of target voxel is greater than or equal to the activity of the source voxel, assign a positive sign to the difference; and

if the activity of the target voxel is less than the activity of the source voxel, assign a negative sign to the difference.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to perform a multiplication of a tissue-specific probability weight and a tissue-non-specific probability weight to determine the local combined anatomical probability weights.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to re-distribute the functional volumetric data using the following equation:

redistributedActivity=sourceActivity× W proximity ×W activity ×W anatomical_combined

where: W anatomical_combined =(W anatomical_specific +b s )×(W anatomical_non-specific +b n ).

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the constants bs and bn are locally dependent.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to apply a regularization bias to a tissue-non-specific probability weight.

9. A method comprising:

obtaining structural imaging information of a patient including anatomical volumetric data;

obtaining functional imaging information of the patient including functional volumetric data;

generating a tissue-specific anatomical probability map using the structural imaging information;

generating a tissue-non-specific anatomical probability map using the structural imaging information;

generating local combined anatomical probability weights using the tissue-specific anatomical probability map, the tissue-non-specific anatomical probability map, and the functional image data;

re-distributing the functional image data using the local combined anatomical probability weights to provide re-distributed functional volumetric data; and

generating an image using the re-distributed functional volumetric data.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the tissue-specific anatomical probability map is determined using image intensities of the structural imaging information.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the tissue-non-specific anatomical probability map is determined using image gradients of the structural imaging information.

12. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

determining, for a source voxel and a target voxel, a direction of an activity difference;

determining a difference on the tissue-non-specific anatomical probability map between the source voxel and the target voxel;

if the activity of target voxel is greater than or equal to the activity of the source voxel, assigning a positive sign to the difference; and

if the activity of the target voxel is less than the activity of the source voxel, assigning a negative sign to the difference.

13. The method of claim 9 , further comprising performing a multiplication of a tissue-specific probability weight and a tissue-non-specific probability weight to determine the local combined anatomical probability weights.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the functional volumetric data is re-distributed using the following equation:

redistributedActivity=sourceActivity× W proximity ×W activity ×W anatomical_combined

where: W anatomical_combined =(W anatomical_specific +b s )×(W anatomical_non-specific +b n ).

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the constants bs and bn are locally dependent.

16. The method of claim 9 , further comprising applying a regularization bias to a tissue-non-specific probability weight.

17. A tangible and non-transitory computer readable medium comprising one or more computer software modules configured to direct one or more processors to:

obtain structural imaging information of a patient including anatomical volumetric data;

obtain a functional imaging information of the patient including functional volumetric data;

generate a tissue-specific anatomical probability map using the structural imaging information;

generate a tissue-non-specific anatomical probability map using the structural imaging information;

generate local combined anatomical probability weights using the tissue-specific anatomical probability map, the tissue-non-specific anatomical probability map, and the functional image data;

re-distribute the functional image data using the local combined anatomical probability weights to provide re-distributed functional volumetric data; and

generate an image using the re-distributed functional volumetric data.

18. The tangible and non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the one or more computer software modules are further configured to direct the one or more processors to determine the tissue-specific anatomical probability map using image intensities of the structural imaging information.

19. The tangible and non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the one or more computer software modules are further configured to direct the one or more processors to determine the tissue-non-specific anatomical probability map using image gradients of the structural imaging information.

20. The tangible and non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the one or more computer software modules are further configured to direct the one or more processors to perform a multiplication of a tissue-specific probability weight and a tissue-non-specific probability weight to determine the local combined anatomical probability weights.