Connectivity driven registration of magnetic resonance images of the human brain

<p>Image registration methods underpin many analysis techniques in neuroimaging. They are essential in group studies when images of different individuals or different modalities need to be brought into a common reference frame. This thesis explores the potential of brain connectivity- driven a...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Petrović, A
Other Authors: Smith, S
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2010
Subjects:
_version_ 1826306857355968512
author Petrović, A
author2 Smith, S
author_facet Smith, S
Petrović, A
author_sort Petrović, A
collection OXFORD
description <p>Image registration methods underpin many analysis techniques in neuroimaging. They are essential in group studies when images of different individuals or different modalities need to be brought into a common reference frame. This thesis explores the potential of brain connectivity- driven alignment and develops surface registration techniques for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which is a noninvasive neuroimaging tool for probing function and structure of the human brain.</p><p>The first part of this work develops a novel surface registration framework, based on free mesh deformations, which aligns cortical and subcortical surfaces by matching structural connectivity patterns derived using probabilistic tractography (diffusion-weighted MRI). Structural, i.e. white matter, connectivity is a good predictor of functional specialisation and structural connectivity-driven registration can therefore be expected to enhance the alignment of functionally homologous areas across subjects.</p><p>The second part validates developed methods for cortical surfaces. Resting State Networks are used in an innovative way to delineate several functionally distinct regions, which were then used to quantify connectivity-driven registration performance by measuring the inter- subject overlap before and after registration. Consequently, the proposed method is assessed using an independent imaging modality and the results are compared to results from state-of-the-art cortical geometry-driven surface registration methods.</p><p>A connectivity-driven registration pipeline is also developed for, and applied to, the surfaces of subcortical structures such as the thalamus. It is carefully validated on a set of artificial test examples and compared to another novel surface registration paradigm based on spherical wavelets. The proposed registration pipeline is then used to explore the differences in the alignment of two groups of subjects, healthy controls and Alzheimer’s disease patients, to a common template.</p><p>Finally, we propose how functional connectivity can be used instead of structural connectivity for driving registrations, as well as how the surface-based framework can be extended to a volumetric one. Apart from providing the benefits such as the improved functional alignment, we hope that the research conducted in this thesis will also represent the basis for the development of templates of structural and functional brain connectivity.</p>
first_indexed 2024-03-07T06:54:14Z
format Thesis
id oxford-uuid:fd95c6d4-06d2-41b4-b6f2-5cbd73cb83a9
institution University of Oxford
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-07T06:54:14Z
publishDate 2010
record_format dspace
spelling oxford-uuid:fd95c6d4-06d2-41b4-b6f2-5cbd73cb83a92022-03-27T13:29:50ZConnectivity driven registration of magnetic resonance images of the human brainThesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06uuid:fd95c6d4-06d2-41b4-b6f2-5cbd73cb83a9Medical Image AnalysisClinical NeurologyMedical ImagingBiomedical engineeringNeurologyNeuroscienceEnglishOxford University Research Archive - Valet2010Petrović, ASmith, SJenkinson, M<p>Image registration methods underpin many analysis techniques in neuroimaging. They are essential in group studies when images of different individuals or different modalities need to be brought into a common reference frame. This thesis explores the potential of brain connectivity- driven alignment and develops surface registration techniques for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which is a noninvasive neuroimaging tool for probing function and structure of the human brain.</p><p>The first part of this work develops a novel surface registration framework, based on free mesh deformations, which aligns cortical and subcortical surfaces by matching structural connectivity patterns derived using probabilistic tractography (diffusion-weighted MRI). Structural, i.e. white matter, connectivity is a good predictor of functional specialisation and structural connectivity-driven registration can therefore be expected to enhance the alignment of functionally homologous areas across subjects.</p><p>The second part validates developed methods for cortical surfaces. Resting State Networks are used in an innovative way to delineate several functionally distinct regions, which were then used to quantify connectivity-driven registration performance by measuring the inter- subject overlap before and after registration. Consequently, the proposed method is assessed using an independent imaging modality and the results are compared to results from state-of-the-art cortical geometry-driven surface registration methods.</p><p>A connectivity-driven registration pipeline is also developed for, and applied to, the surfaces of subcortical structures such as the thalamus. It is carefully validated on a set of artificial test examples and compared to another novel surface registration paradigm based on spherical wavelets. The proposed registration pipeline is then used to explore the differences in the alignment of two groups of subjects, healthy controls and Alzheimer’s disease patients, to a common template.</p><p>Finally, we propose how functional connectivity can be used instead of structural connectivity for driving registrations, as well as how the surface-based framework can be extended to a volumetric one. Apart from providing the benefits such as the improved functional alignment, we hope that the research conducted in this thesis will also represent the basis for the development of templates of structural and functional brain connectivity.</p>
spellingShingle Medical Image Analysis
Clinical Neurology
Medical Imaging
Biomedical engineering
Neurology
Neuroscience
Petrović, A
Connectivity driven registration of magnetic resonance images of the human brain
title Connectivity driven registration of magnetic resonance images of the human brain
title_full Connectivity driven registration of magnetic resonance images of the human brain
title_fullStr Connectivity driven registration of magnetic resonance images of the human brain
title_full_unstemmed Connectivity driven registration of magnetic resonance images of the human brain
title_short Connectivity driven registration of magnetic resonance images of the human brain
title_sort connectivity driven registration of magnetic resonance images of the human brain
topic Medical Image Analysis
Clinical Neurology
Medical Imaging
Biomedical engineering
Neurology
Neuroscience
work_keys_str_mv AT petrovica connectivitydrivenregistrationofmagneticresonanceimagesofthehumanbrain