High frequency conductivity decomposition by solving physically constraint underdetermined inverse problem in human brain

Abstract The developed magnetic resonance electrical properties tomography (MREPT) can visualize the internal conductivity distribution at Larmor frequency by measuring the B1 transceive phase data from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The recovered high-frequency conductivity (HFC) value is highly...

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Main Authors: Oh-In Kwon, Mun Bae Lee, Geon-Ho Jahng
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2023-02-01
Series:Scientific Reports
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-30344-1
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author Oh-In Kwon
Mun Bae Lee
Geon-Ho Jahng
author_facet Oh-In Kwon
Mun Bae Lee
Geon-Ho Jahng
author_sort Oh-In Kwon
collection DOAJ
description Abstract The developed magnetic resonance electrical properties tomography (MREPT) can visualize the internal conductivity distribution at Larmor frequency by measuring the B1 transceive phase data from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The recovered high-frequency conductivity (HFC) value is highly complex and heterogeneous in a macroscopic imaging voxel. Using high and low b-value diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) data, the multi-compartment spherical mean technique (MC-SMT) characterizes the water molecule movement within and between intra- and extra-neurite compartments by analyzing the microstructures and underlying architectural organization of brain tissues. The proposed method decomposes the recovered HFC into the conductivity values in the intra- and extra-neurite compartments via the recovered intra-neurite volume fraction (IVF) and the diffusion patterns using DWI data. As a form of decomposition of intra- and extra-neurite compartments, the problem to determine the intra- and extra-neurite conductivity values from the HFC is still an underdetermined inverse problem. To solve the underdetermined problem, we use the compartmentalized IVF as a criterion to decompose the electrical properties because the ion-concentration and mobility have different characteristics in the intra- and extra-neurite compartments. The proposed method determines a representative apparent intra- and extra-neurite conductivity values by changing the underdetermined equation for a voxel into an over-determined minimization problem over a local window consisting of surrounding voxels. To suppress the noise amplification and estimate a feasible conductivity, we define a diffusion pattern distance to weight the over-determined system in the local window. To quantify the proposed method, we conducted a simulation experiment. The simulation experiments show the relationships between the noise reduction and the spatial resolution depending on the designed local window sizes and diffusion pattern distance. Human brain experiments (five young healthy volunteers and a patient with brain tumor) were conducted to evaluate and validate the reliability of the proposed method. To quantitatively compare the results with previously developed methods, we analyzed the errors for reconstructed extra-neurite conductivity using existing methods and indirectly verified the feasibility of the proposed method.
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spelling doaj.art-8e9de7b2216042a78ad7f14fd5f7d3c72023-03-22T11:17:55ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222023-02-0113111510.1038/s41598-023-30344-1High frequency conductivity decomposition by solving physically constraint underdetermined inverse problem in human brainOh-In Kwon0Mun Bae Lee1Geon-Ho Jahng2Department of Mathematics, College of Basic Science, Konkuk UniversityDepartment of Mathematics, College of Basic Science, Konkuk UniversityDepartment of Radiology, Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong, College of Medicine, Kyung Hee UniversityAbstract The developed magnetic resonance electrical properties tomography (MREPT) can visualize the internal conductivity distribution at Larmor frequency by measuring the B1 transceive phase data from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The recovered high-frequency conductivity (HFC) value is highly complex and heterogeneous in a macroscopic imaging voxel. Using high and low b-value diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) data, the multi-compartment spherical mean technique (MC-SMT) characterizes the water molecule movement within and between intra- and extra-neurite compartments by analyzing the microstructures and underlying architectural organization of brain tissues. The proposed method decomposes the recovered HFC into the conductivity values in the intra- and extra-neurite compartments via the recovered intra-neurite volume fraction (IVF) and the diffusion patterns using DWI data. As a form of decomposition of intra- and extra-neurite compartments, the problem to determine the intra- and extra-neurite conductivity values from the HFC is still an underdetermined inverse problem. To solve the underdetermined problem, we use the compartmentalized IVF as a criterion to decompose the electrical properties because the ion-concentration and mobility have different characteristics in the intra- and extra-neurite compartments. The proposed method determines a representative apparent intra- and extra-neurite conductivity values by changing the underdetermined equation for a voxel into an over-determined minimization problem over a local window consisting of surrounding voxels. To suppress the noise amplification and estimate a feasible conductivity, we define a diffusion pattern distance to weight the over-determined system in the local window. To quantify the proposed method, we conducted a simulation experiment. The simulation experiments show the relationships between the noise reduction and the spatial resolution depending on the designed local window sizes and diffusion pattern distance. Human brain experiments (five young healthy volunteers and a patient with brain tumor) were conducted to evaluate and validate the reliability of the proposed method. To quantitatively compare the results with previously developed methods, we analyzed the errors for reconstructed extra-neurite conductivity using existing methods and indirectly verified the feasibility of the proposed method.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-30344-1
spellingShingle Oh-In Kwon
Mun Bae Lee
Geon-Ho Jahng
High frequency conductivity decomposition by solving physically constraint underdetermined inverse problem in human brain
Scientific Reports
title High frequency conductivity decomposition by solving physically constraint underdetermined inverse problem in human brain
title_full High frequency conductivity decomposition by solving physically constraint underdetermined inverse problem in human brain
title_fullStr High frequency conductivity decomposition by solving physically constraint underdetermined inverse problem in human brain
title_full_unstemmed High frequency conductivity decomposition by solving physically constraint underdetermined inverse problem in human brain
title_short High frequency conductivity decomposition by solving physically constraint underdetermined inverse problem in human brain
title_sort high frequency conductivity decomposition by solving physically constraint underdetermined inverse problem in human brain
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-30344-1
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AT geonhojahng highfrequencyconductivitydecompositionbysolvingphysicallyconstraintunderdeterminedinverseprobleminhumanbrain