title: A novel white matter fibre tracking algorithm using probabilistic tractography and average curves.
abstract: This paper presents a novel white matter fibre tractography approach using average curves of probabilistic fibre tracking measures. We compute "representative" curves from the original probabilistic curve-set using two different averaging methods. These typical curves overcome a number of the limitations of deterministic and probabilistic approaches. They produce strong connections to every anatomically distinct fibre tract from a seed point and also convey important information about the underlying probability distribution. A new clustering algorithm is employed to separate fibres into branches before applying averaging methods. The performance of the technique is verified on a wide range of seed points using a phantom dataset and an in vivo dataset.
authors.affiliation: Medical Image Computing, School of BioSciences, University of Kent, UK.
authors.forename: Nagulan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ratnarajah
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Simmons
authors.forename: Oleg
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Davydov
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hojjatoleslami
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001369:Axons / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D001921:Brain / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009413:Nerve Fibers, Myelinated / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D016008:Statistical Distributions