Detecting disease-specific patterns of brain structure using cortical pattern matching and a population-based probabilistic brain atlas
Source: IEEE Proc. 17th International Conference on Information Processing in Medic
2001;:488-501.
Author: Thompson PM, Mega MS, Vidal C, Rapoport JL, Toga AW
Abstract:
The rapid creation of comprehensive brain image databases
mandates the development of mathematical algorithms to uncover diseasespecific
patterns of brain structure and function in human populations.
We describe our construction of probabilistic atlases that store detailed
information on how the brain varies across age and gender, across time,
in health and disease, and in large human populations. Specifically, we
introduce a mathematical framework based on covariant partial differential
equations (PDEs), pull-backs of mappings under harmonic flows,
and high-dimensional random tensor fields to encode variations in cortical
patterning, asymmetry and tissue distribution in a population-based
brain image database (N=94 scans). We use this information to detect
disease-specific abnormalities in Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia,
including dynamic changes over time. Illustrative examples are chosen
to show how group patterns of cortical organization, asymmetry, and
disease-specific trends can be resolved that are not apparent in individual
brain images. Finally, we create four-dimensional (4D) maps that
store probabilistic information on the dynamics of brain change in development
and disease. Digital atlases that generate these maps show
considerable promise in identifying general patterns of structural and
functional variation in diseased populations, and revealing how these
features depend on demographic, genetic, clinical and therapeutic parameters.