KEYWORDS: Magnetic resonance imaging, Diffusion, Control systems, Epilepsy, Diffusion tensor imaging, Brain, Statistical analysis, Process modeling, Data modeling, Surgery
Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) patients with normal-appearing MRI scans on neuroradiological evaluation are very common (30% of all TLE), but pre-surgical evaluation is challenging for this TLE cohort, and as a result surgery does not often achieve a seizure-free outcome. The purpose of this study is to analyze diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) by constructing tractography models that were seeded from the hippocampus to superficial white matter underlying the neocortex and subcortical grey matter structures. We compared mean fractional anisotropy (FA) values in 96 regions of interest between patients with unilateral TLE (10 left lateralized TLE, LTLE and 16 right lateralized TLE, RTLE) and 18 healthy controls. We found that both LTLE and RTLE showed significantly decreased FA values in hippocampal pathways to putamen, pallidum, parahippocampal and entorhinal cortex. In particular, LTLE patients mainly displayed unilateral FA decreases in hippocampal connections ipsilateral to the epileptic focus, whereas RTLE showed bilateral FA decreases. No connectivity changes were found between the hippocampus and the neocortical regions. Our analysis provides novel evidence of alterations in connectivity between the hippocampus and its proximal grey matter structures in patients with MRI-negative TLE.
Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a genetic hematological disease in which the hemoglobin molecule in red blood cells is abnormal. It is closely associated with many symptoms, including pain, anemia, chest syndrome and neurocognitive impairment. One of the most debilitating symptoms is elevated risk for cerebro-vascular accidents. The corpus callosum (CC), as the largest and most prominent white matter (WM) structure in the brain, can reflect the chronic cerebrovascular damage resulting from silent strokes or infarctions in asymptomatic SCD patients. While a lot of studies have reported WM alterations in this cohort, little is known about the shape deformation of the CC. Here we perform the first surface morphometry analysis of the CC in SCD patients using four different shape metrics on T1-weighted magnetic resonance images. We detect regional surface morphological differences in the CC between 11 patients and 10 healthy control subjects. Differences are located in the genu, posterior midbody and splenium, potentially casting light on the anatomical substrates underlying neuropsychological test differences between the SCD and control groups.
Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a hereditary blood disorder in which the oxygen-carrying hemoglobin molecule in red blood cells is abnormal. It affects numerous people in the world and leads to a shorter life span, pain, anemia, serious infections and neurocognitive decline. Tract-Specific Analysis (TSA) is a statistical method to evaluate white matter alterations due to neurocognitive diseases, using diffusion tensor magnetic resonance images. Here, for the first time, TSA is used to compare 11 major brain white matter (WM) tracts between SCD patients and age-matched healthy subjects. Alterations are found in the corpus callosum (CC), the cortico-spinal tract (CST), inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus (IFO), inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF), superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF), and uncinated fasciculus (UNC). Based on previous studies on the neurocognitive functions of these tracts, the significant areas found in this paper might be related to several cognitive impairments and depression, both of which are observed in SCD patients.
Banks of high-quality, multimodal neurological images offer new possibilities for analyses based on brain registration. To take full advantage of these, current algorithms should be significantly enhanced. We present here a new brain registration method driven simultaneously by the structural intensity and the total diffusion information of MRI scans. Using the two modalities together allows for a better alignment of general and specific aspects of the anatomy. Furthermore, keeping the full diffusion tensor in the cost function, rather than only some of its scalar measures, will allow for a thorough statistical analysis once the Jacobian of the transformation is obtained.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.