13,782 research outputs found
Improving Fiber Alignment in HARDI by Combining Contextual PDE Flow with Constrained Spherical Deconvolution
We propose two strategies to improve the quality of tractography results
computed from diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) data. Both
methods are based on the same PDE framework, defined in the coupled space of
positions and orientations, associated with a stochastic process describing the
enhancement of elongated structures while preserving crossing structures. In
the first method we use the enhancement PDE for contextual regularization of a
fiber orientation distribution (FOD) that is obtained on individual voxels from
high angular resolution diffusion imaging (HARDI) data via constrained
spherical deconvolution (CSD). Thereby we improve the FOD as input for
subsequent tractography. Secondly, we introduce the fiber to bundle coherence
(FBC), a measure for quantification of fiber alignment. The FBC is computed
from a tractography result using the same PDE framework and provides a
criterion for removing the spurious fibers. We validate the proposed
combination of CSD and enhancement on phantom data and on human data, acquired
with different scanning protocols. On the phantom data we find that PDE
enhancements improve both local metrics and global metrics of tractography
results, compared to CSD without enhancements. On the human data we show that
the enhancements allow for a better reconstruction of crossing fiber bundles
and they reduce the variability of the tractography output with respect to the
acquisition parameters. Finally, we show that both the enhancement of the FODs
and the use of the FBC measure on the tractography improve the stability with
respect to different stochastic realizations of probabilistic tractography.
This is shown in a clinical application: the reconstruction of the optic
radiation for epilepsy surgery planning
Polarized Helium to Image the Lung
The main findings of the european PHIL project (Polarised Helium to Image the
Lung) are reported. State of the art optical pumping techniques for polarising
^3He gas are described. MRI methodological improvements allow dynamical
ventilation images with a good resolution, ultimately limited by gas diffusion.
Diffusion imaging appears as a robust method of lung diagnosis. A discussion of
the potential advantage of low field MRI is presented. Selected PHIL results
for emphysema are given, with the perspectives that this joint work opens up
for the future of respiratory medicine.Comment: To be published in Proc. ICAP 2004 (19th Int. Conf. on Atomic
Physics, Rio, July 26-30 2004
Mapping Topographic Structure in White Matter Pathways with Level Set Trees
Fiber tractography on diffusion imaging data offers rich potential for
describing white matter pathways in the human brain, but characterizing the
spatial organization in these large and complex data sets remains a challenge.
We show that level set trees---which provide a concise representation of the
hierarchical mode structure of probability density functions---offer a
statistically-principled framework for visualizing and analyzing topography in
fiber streamlines. Using diffusion spectrum imaging data collected on
neurologically healthy controls (N=30), we mapped white matter pathways from
the cortex into the striatum using a deterministic tractography algorithm that
estimates fiber bundles as dimensionless streamlines. Level set trees were used
for interactive exploration of patterns in the endpoint distributions of the
mapped fiber tracks and an efficient segmentation of the tracks that has
empirical accuracy comparable to standard nonparametric clustering methods. We
show that level set trees can also be generalized to model pseudo-density
functions in order to analyze a broader array of data types, including entire
fiber streamlines. Finally, resampling methods show the reliability of the
level set tree as a descriptive measure of topographic structure, illustrating
its potential as a statistical descriptor in brain imaging analysis. These
results highlight the broad applicability of level set trees for visualizing
and analyzing high-dimensional data like fiber tractography output
A Novel Framework for Highlight Reflectance Transformation Imaging
We propose a novel pipeline and related software tools for processing the multi-light image collections (MLICs) acquired in different application contexts to obtain shape and appearance information of captured surfaces, as well as to derive compact relightable representations of them. Our pipeline extends the popular Highlight Reflectance Transformation Imaging (H-RTI) framework, which is widely used in the Cultural Heritage domain. We support, in particular, perspective camera modeling, per-pixel interpolated light direction estimation, as well as light normalization correcting vignetting and uneven non-directional illumination. Furthermore, we propose two novel easy-to-use software tools to simplify all processing steps. The tools, in addition to support easy processing and encoding of pixel data, implement a variety of visualizations, as well as multiple reflectance-model-fitting options. Experimental tests on synthetic and real-world MLICs demonstrate the usefulness of the novel algorithmic framework and the potential benefits of the proposed tools for end-user applications.Terms: "European Union (EU)" & "Horizon 2020" / Action: H2020-EU.3.6.3. - Reflective societies - cultural heritage and European identity / Acronym: Scan4Reco / Grant number: 665091DSURF project (PRIN 2015) funded by the Italian Ministry of University and ResearchSardinian Regional Authorities under projects VIGEC and Vis&VideoLa
Neuroimaging of structural pathology and connectomics in traumatic brain injury: Toward personalized outcome prediction.
Recent contributions to the body of knowledge on traumatic brain injury (TBI) favor the view that multimodal neuroimaging using structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI and fMRI, respectively) as well as diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) has excellent potential to identify novel biomarkers and predictors of TBI outcome. This is particularly the case when such methods are appropriately combined with volumetric/morphometric analysis of brain structures and with the exploration of TBI-related changes in brain network properties at the level of the connectome. In this context, our present review summarizes recent developments on the roles of these two techniques in the search for novel structural neuroimaging biomarkers that have TBI outcome prognostication value. The themes being explored cover notable trends in this area of research, including (1) the role of advanced MRI processing methods in the analysis of structural pathology, (2) the use of brain connectomics and network analysis to identify outcome biomarkers, and (3) the application of multivariate statistics to predict outcome using neuroimaging metrics. The goal of the review is to draw the community's attention to these recent advances on TBI outcome prediction methods and to encourage the development of new methodologies whereby structural neuroimaging can be used to identify biomarkers of TBI outcome
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