Cerebral white matter analysis using diffusion imaging

In this thesis we address the whole-brain tractography segmentation problem. Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging can be used to create a representation of white matter tracts in the brain via a process called tractography. Whole brain tractography outputs thousands of trajectories that each approximate a white matter fiber pathway. Our method performs automatic organization, or segmention, of these trajectories into anatomical regions and gives automatic region correspondence across subjects. Our method enables both the automatic group comparison of white matter anatomy and of its regional diffusion properties, and the creation of consistent white matter visualizations across subjects. We learn a model of common white matter structures by analyzing many registered tractography datasets simultaneously. Each trajectory is represented as a point in a high-dimensional spectral embedding space, and common structures are found by clustering in this space. By annotating the clusters with anatomical labels, we create a model that we call a high-dimensional white matter atlas.

Department dc:contributor.department

Harvard University--MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• O'Donnell, Lauren Jean

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• W. Eric L. Grimson and Carl-Fredrik Westin.

• Harvard University--MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/35514

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/35514