title: Active fibers: matching deformable tract templates to diffusion tensor images.
abstract: Reliable quantitative analysis of white matter connectivity in the brain is an open problem in neuroimaging, with common solutions requiring tools for fiber tracking, tractography segmentation and estimation of intersubject correspondence. This paper proposes a novel, template matching approach to the problem. In the proposed method, a deformable fiber-bundle model is aligned directly with the subject tensor field, skipping the fiber tracking step. Furthermore, the use of a common template eliminates the need for tractography segmentation and defines intersubject shape correspondence. The method is validated using phantom DTI data and applications are presented, including automatic fiber-bundle reconstruction and tract-based morphometry.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, Dept. of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, USA. ilya.eckstein@loni.ucla.edu
authors.forename: Ilya
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Eckstein
authors.forename: David W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Shattuck
authors.forename: Jason L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Stein
authors.forename: Katie L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: McMahon
authors.forename: Greig
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: de Zubicaray
authors.forename: Margaret J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Wright
authors.forename: Paul M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: Arthur W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Toga
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D020712:Fornix, Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D055815:Young Adult