title: Construction and assessment of a 3-T MRI brain template.
abstract: New MR imaging protocols enable visualization of brain structures. However, for dedicated clinical applications such as targeting deep brain stimulation (DBS), a more accurate localization requires the use of atlases. We developed a three-dimensional digitized mono-subject anatomical template of the human brain based on 3-T magnetic resonance images (MRI). By averaging 15 registered T1 image acquisitions, we have shown that the final image corresponds to an optimal image, limited by the performance of the 3-T MR machine. We compared different preprocessing workflows for template construction. With the optimal strategy, along with validated existing processing methods, one T1 template and one T1-T2 mixing template were created in order to improve visualization of spatially complex deep structures. Reduction of voxel size to 0.25 mm(3) was also advantageous to observe fine structures and white matter/gray matter intensity crossings. Results demonstrated that such a template also improved inter-patient registration for population comparison in DBS. These MR templates are made freely available to our community (http://www.vmip.org/mritemplate) to serve as a reference for neuroimage processing methods.
authors.affiliation: INSERM U746, Faculté de Médecine CS 34317, Rennes Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Florent
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lalys
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Haegelen
authors.forename: Jean-Christophe
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Ferre
authors.forename: Omar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: El-Ganaoui
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jannin
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001479:Basal Ganglia / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D046690:Deep Brain Stimulation; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results