Multi-Modal Image Registration Pipeline Combining Near-Infrared Fluorescence Optical Imaging and MRI

Using near-infrared fluorescence optical imaging (NIR-FOI) in the field of rheumatology for the visualization of the hands’ micro-circulation is still a relatively new method for investigating clinically relevant musculoskeletal inflammation. Previous work has shown that it might enable the detection of sub-clinical arthritis. In this work, we describe a pipeline to register and visualize volumetric MRI data with spatio-temporal NIR-FOI image stacks, as well as the results of a previously developed objective evaluation method of NIR-FOI data. This combination of both imaging modalities connects the high anatomical resolution of MRI and functional information of the NIR-FOI data, simplifies and increases the quality of the diagnosis-making process, and should facilitate the transition of a research project into a real-life application. Additionally, this fusion of imaging modalities should support medical researchers to understand the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms of psoriatic arthritis, which are not fully understood, yet.The suggested visualization addresses a specific medical condition. However, the visualization pipeline can be reused for any type of spatio-temporal and volumetric data registration as well as the additional inclusion of objective analysis results.