Fusion imaging: Applications in maxillofacial radiology

Dentistry has witnessed tremendous advances in all its branches over the past three decades. With these advances, the need for more precise diagnostic tools, especially imaging modalities, has become mandatory. Many advanced imaging modalities like CT, MRI, CBCT, PET imaging are available which has made diagnostic imaging very accurate. Some of these modalities give a very good anatomic location and extent of the pathology, while others are able to image the pathology when the organ is in function. But, when both ie the precise anatomic location and functional imaging are required, than fusion of images made by more than one advanced imaging modality is required. This is where fusion imaging plays a significant role. “Fusion Imaging is the process of registering and combining multiple images from single or multiple imaging modalities to improve the imaging quality and reduce randomness and redundancy to increase the clinical applicability of medical images for diagnosis and assessment of medical problems”. It was designed to overcome the disadvantages of anatomic and functional imaging modalities and attempts to provide inputs that improve the image quality by combining the advantages of anatomic and functional imaging modalities for improvising treatment plans. The fusion imaging information is ultimate and it allows not only better understanding of various physiological and disease process but also helps in monitoring & predicting the course of the treatment and predicting the prognosis.