Templates and Tools for Pediatric Neuroanatomical Analysis

本项目旨在构建一套用于小儿神经图像分析的标准解剖模板。它旨在利用美国国立卫生研究院资助的正常大脑发育MRI研究，特别是DTI（弥散张量成像）辅助研究。总体目标是形成一组特定年龄组的模板，或地图集空间，通过分组明智的注册过程，将每个组中的所有受试者带入空间一致，并创建主题图像的统计摘要。许多神经科学项目通过标准模板的可用性得到促进，例如，组间形态学差异的量化和结构的自动标记。之前大多数关于模板或图谱空间形成的工作都使用了传统的MRI图像，这种图像对大脑的整体白质/灰质形态有很好的对比。最近的DTI图像提供了在常规MRI中不可见的白质结构的细节。我们特别计划利用辅助研究的DTI图像，使白质结构在模板中得到更好的一致，而不是不使用DTI图像。具体目标包括技术开发、模板形成以及由此产生的模板和软件的传播。

This project aims to construct a set of standard anatomical templates for pediatric neuroimage analysis. It is designed to leverage the NIH funded MRI Study of Normal Brain Development, specifically the DTI (Diffusion Tensor Imaging) ancillary study. The overall goal is to form a set of age-group specific templates, or atlas spaces, by a process of group wise registration that will bring all of the subjects in each group into spatial agreement and create a statistical summary of the subject images. Many neuroscience projects are facilitated by the availability of standard templates, e.g., quantification of morphological differences between groups and automated labeling of structure. Most previous work in template, or atlas space, formation has used conventional MRI images, which have good contrast for the overall white matter / gray matter morphology of the brain. The more recent DTI images provide details of the white matter structure that are otherwise not visible in conventional MRI. We specifically plan to make use of the DTI images of the ancillary study in such a way that the white matter structures are brought into better agreement in the templates than would be the case if DTI images were not used. The specific aims include technology development, template formation, and dissemination of the resulting templates and software. The technology development effort includes the following: • Extend a group registration method that we have previously developed to use DTI images in addition to MRI images • Extend the deformation modeling capabilities of the group registration method. It is our expectation that the templates and companion software tools will facilitate pediatric neuroimage analysis in general, and particularly application projects that focus on white matter structure.