Registration of Three-Dimensional MR and CT Studies of the Cervical Spine

Summary: A three-dimensional image registration tech-nique for CT and MR studies of the cervical spine was evaluated for feasibility and efficacy. Registration by means of external fiducial markers was slightly more ac-curate than registration by anatomic landmarks. The in-terrelationships between bony (eg, neural foramina) and soft tissue structures (eg, nerve roots) in the cervical spine were more conspicuous on registered images than on con-ventional displays. Registration of CT and MR images may be used to examine more precisely the relationships be-tween bony and soft tissue structures of the cervical spine. In clinical practice, multitechnique imaging is not routinely done. In complex cases, however, data obtained from different imaging techniques may be complementary and provide useful anatomic an