Topology-driven Analysis of Brain Anatomy

描述（由申请人提供）：该提案旨在通过在约翰霍普金斯大学进行神经科学和医学图像处理研究的教学培训，培养候选人在神经成像领域进行多学科研究的能力。该研究项目包括创建一个自动化，定量处理框架的结构脑MRI的基础上使用的拓扑结构作为一种手段，引入全球，定性解剖信息。它建议开发新的脑图像分割技术，包括多模态研究，病理学和DTI的处理，建立人脑的拓扑图谱，开发形状分析和同胚图像对齐工具，并研究MDMA（摇头丸）用户和多发性硬化症（MS）患者的结构变化。分割框架将结合联合收割机在拓扑保持分割、组织分类、统计图谱和张量计算方面的最新进展，以自动分割大脑、病变和白色物质纤维束的主要结构。大脑拓扑结构的数据库将基于神经解剖学训练、医学地图集和注释数据库对大脑中的结构和连接进行建模。该分析将结合联合收割机形状测量与形态学配准，以在两项互补研究中提供结构的全局和局部量化：一项研究是对药物MDMA使用者大脑中细微形态测量变化的研究，另一项研究是对具有各种程度病变和萎缩的多发性硬化症患者的纵向研究。一旦得到充分验证，这些工具将免费提供给神经科学研究人员。 公共卫生相关性：拟议研究在神经科学和医学界的影响将是发布软件，以分割和对齐大脑MR图像，无需手动交互，用于各种成像研究，从拓扑特性建模大脑解剖结构和连接关系，以及应用于神经科学的两个重要问题，萎缩的检测和量化以及人脑病变的分析。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This proposal aims at developing the candidate's ability to perform multidisciplinary research in Neuroimaging through didactic training in Neuroscience and research in Medical Image Processing at the Johns Hopkins University. The research project consists in creating an automated, quantitative processing framework for structural brain MRI based on the use of topology as a means to introduce global, qualitative anatomical information. It proposes to develop novel brain image segmentation techniques encompassing multi-modality studies, pathologies, and the processing of DTI, to build topological atlases of the human brain, to develop tools for shape analysis and homeomorphic image alignment, and to study structural variations in MDMA (ecstasy) users and Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients. The segmentation framework will combine recent advances in topology-preserving segmentation, tissue classification, statistical atlases and tensor computing to automatically segment the major structures of the brain, lesions, and white matter fiber bundles. Atlases of brain topology will model structure and connectivity in the brain based on neuroanatomy training, medical atlases and annotated databases. The analysis will combine shape measurements with diffeomorphic registration to provide global and local quantification of structure in two complementary studies: a study of subtle morphometric changes in the brain of users of the drug MDMA, and a longitudinal study of Multiple Sclerosis patients with various levels of lesion and atrophy. The tools will become freely available to neuroscience researchers once fully validated. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The impact of the proposed research in the neuroscience and medical communities will be the release of software to segment and align brain MR images with no manual interaction for a large variety of imaging studies, the modeling of structure and connectivity relationships in brain anatomy from topological properties, and the application to two important questions of neurosciences, the detection and quantification of atrophy and the analysis of lesions in the human brain.