Computed Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging Overlay in the Spine for Surgical Planning: A Technical Report

Computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies are used separately for surgical planning of spine surgery. Advanced techniques exist for creating CT-MR fusion images, but at this time these techniques are not easily accessible for large-scale use.

We propose a simple graphical technique for CT-MR image overlay, for use in the surgical planning of spinal decompression and guidance of intraoperative resection. The proposed technique involves overlaying a single cross-section from anatomically comparable MRI and CT studies on any software with basic image editing functions.

We demonstrate CT-MR fusion images of 8 patients of the senior author in which the technique was used. We found that it can also be referenced intraoperatively for navigation.

Compared to other techniques, our proposed method can be easily implemented by clinicians to create simple CT-MRI fusion images that can be useful for preoperative planning and intraoperative navigation.