TY - JOUR
T1 - Multi-contrast human neonatal brain atlas
T2 - Application to normal neonate development analysis
AU - Oishi, Kenichi
AU - Mori, Susumu
AU - Donohue, Pamela K.
AU - Ernst, Thomas
AU - Anderson, Lynn
AU - Buchthal, Steven
AU - Faria, Andreia
AU - Jiang, Hangyi
AU - Li, Xin
AU - Miller, Michael I.
AU - van Zijl, Peter C.M.
AU - Chang, Linda
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors thank Dr. Jon Skranes of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology for helpful suggestions, and Ms. Mary McAllister for help with manuscript editing. This publication was made possible by grants from the National Institutes of Health [ R21AG033774 , AG20012 , and P50AG05146 from the National Institute of Aging (NIA) , U54NS NS56883 from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Strokes (NINDS) , 2K24DA16170 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) , and P41 RR015241 and G12-RR003061 from the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) ]. The contents of the paper are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official view of NIA, NCRR, or NIH. Dr. van Zijl is a paid lecturer for Philips Medical Systems and is the inventor of technology that is licensed to Philips. This arrangement has been approved by Johns Hopkins University in accordance with its conflict of interest policies.
PY - 2011/5/1
Y1 - 2011/5/1
N2 - MRI is a sensitive method for detecting subtle anatomic abnormalities in the neonatal brain. To optimize the usefulness for neonatal and pediatric care, systematic research, based on quantitative image analysis and functional correlation, is required. Normalization-based image analysis is one of the most effective methods for image quantification and statistical comparison. However, the application of this methodology to neonatal brain MRI scans is rare. Some of the difficulties are the rapid changes in T1 and T2 contrasts and the lack of contrast between brain structures, which prohibits accurate cross-subject image registration. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), which provides rich and quantitative anatomical contrast in neonate brains, is an ideal technology for normalization-based neonatal brain analysis. In this paper, we report the development of neonatal brain atlases with detailed anatomic information derived from DTI and co-registered anatomical MRI. Combined with a diffeomorphic transformation, we were able to normalize neonatal brain images to the atlas space and three-dimensionally parcellate images into 122 regions. The accuracy of the normalization was comparable to the reliability of human raters. This method was then applied to babies of 37-53 post-conceptional weeks to characterize developmental changes of the white matter, which indicated a posterior-to-anterior and a central-to-peripheral direction of maturation. We expect that future applications of this atlas will include investigations of the effect of prenatal events and the effects of preterm birth or low birth weights, as well as clinical applications, such as determining imaging biomarkers for various neurological disorders.
AB - MRI is a sensitive method for detecting subtle anatomic abnormalities in the neonatal brain. To optimize the usefulness for neonatal and pediatric care, systematic research, based on quantitative image analysis and functional correlation, is required. Normalization-based image analysis is one of the most effective methods for image quantification and statistical comparison. However, the application of this methodology to neonatal brain MRI scans is rare. Some of the difficulties are the rapid changes in T1 and T2 contrasts and the lack of contrast between brain structures, which prohibits accurate cross-subject image registration. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), which provides rich and quantitative anatomical contrast in neonate brains, is an ideal technology for normalization-based neonatal brain analysis. In this paper, we report the development of neonatal brain atlases with detailed anatomic information derived from DTI and co-registered anatomical MRI. Combined with a diffeomorphic transformation, we were able to normalize neonatal brain images to the atlas space and three-dimensionally parcellate images into 122 regions. The accuracy of the normalization was comparable to the reliability of human raters. This method was then applied to babies of 37-53 post-conceptional weeks to characterize developmental changes of the white matter, which indicated a posterior-to-anterior and a central-to-peripheral direction of maturation. We expect that future applications of this atlas will include investigations of the effect of prenatal events and the effects of preterm birth or low birth weights, as well as clinical applications, such as determining imaging biomarkers for various neurological disorders.
KW - Atlas
KW - Diffusion tensor imaging
KW - Human
KW - Magnetic resonance imaging
KW - Neonate
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U2 - 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.01.051
DO - 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.01.051
M3 - Article
C2 - 21276861
AN - SCOPUS:79953050952
SN - 1053-8119
VL - 56
SP - 8
EP - 20
JO - NeuroImage
JF - NeuroImage
IS - 1
ER -