Registration of CT volumes with fluoroscopic images

1. A method for registering images of multiple modalities, comprising:

acquiring first image of a subject using a first modality;

acquiring second image of the subject using a second modality, wherein the first image includes greater structural detail of the subject than the second image and the second image is a video image including multiple image frames; and

registering the first and second images using automatic point cloud to surface registration based on an anatomical structure observable in the first image and a foreign object proximate to the anatomical structure observable in the second image.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first modality is a computed tomography (CT) imager.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second modality is a fluoroscopy imager.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein no radio-contrast is used in acquiring the second image.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein registering the first and second images includes optimizing location constraints of the anatomical structure and the foreign object.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the anatomical structure is a coronary sinus and the foreign object is a coronary sinus catheter.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the anatomical structure is an aorta and the foreign object is an aortic catheter.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the spatial relationship between the anatomical structure and the foreign object is known.

9. The method of claim 1 , additionally including displaying a combined image including the first image overlaid with the second image, in a manner consistent with the registration, such that the greater structural detail of the first image is displayed as a video image including multiple image frames.

10. The method of claim 9 , additionally including performing an electrophysiology procedure based on the displayed combined image.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the electrophysiology procedure includes catheterization.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein registering the first and second images includes:

segmenting the anatomical structure from the first image;

segmenting the foreign object from the second image; and

registering the first and second images using a known spatial relationship between the anatomical structure and the foreign object.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the anatomical structure is automatically segmented from the first image using a segmentation algorithm.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the anatomical structure is segmented from the first image using user-provided input.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein the foreign object is automatically segmented from the second image using a segmentation algorithm.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first image is a three-dimensional image and the second image is a three-dimensional image.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the anatomical structure includes soft tissue that is not observable in the second image.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second image includes images from multiple angles.

19. A method for registering images of multiple modalities, comprising:

acquiring a three-dimensional computed tomography image of a subject;

acquiring a three-dimensional fluoroscopy image of the subject using a biplane fluoroscope; and

automatically registering the three-dimensional computed tomography image and the three-dimensional fluoroscopy image based on an anatomical structure observable in the computed tomography image and a foreign object proximate to the anatomical structure observable in the fluoroscopy image.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein registering the computed tomography image and the fluoroscopy image includes optimizing location constraints of the anatomical structure and the foreign object.

21. A computer system comprising:

a processor; and

a program storage device readable by the computer system, embodying a program of instructions executable by the processor to perform method steps for registering images of multiple modalities, the method comprising:

acquiring a three-dimensional computed tomography image of a subject;

acquiring a two-dimensional fluoroscopy image of the subject; and

automatically registering the computed tomography image and the fluoroscopy image using line-to-line registration based on an anatomical structure observable in the computed tomography image and a foreign object proximate to the anatomical structure observable in the fluoroscopy image.