Tract-based morphometry

Med Image Comput Comput Assist Interv. 2007;10(Pt 2):161-8.

Abstract

Multisubject statistical analyses of diffusion tensor images in regions of specific white matter tracts have commonly measured only the mean value of a scalar invariant such as the fractional anisotropy (FA), ignoring the spatial variation of FA along the length of fiber tracts. We propose to instead perform tract-based morphometry (TBM), or the statistical analysis of diffusion MRI data in an anatomical tract-based coordinate system. We present a method for automatic generation of white matter tract arc length parameterizations, based on learning a fiber bundle model from tractography from multiple subjects. Our tract-based coordinate system enables TBM for the detection of white matter differences in groups of subjects. We present example TBM results from a study of interhemispheric differences in FA.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Artificial Intelligence*
  • Brain / cytology*
  • Cluster Analysis
  • Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods*
  • Humans
  • Image Enhancement / methods
  • Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / methods*
  • Imaging, Three-Dimensional / methods*
  • Nerve Fibers, Myelinated / ultrastructure*
  • Neural Pathways / cytology
  • Pattern Recognition, Automated / methods*
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Sensitivity and Specificity