Assessment of the potentials and limitations of cortical-based analysis for the integration of structure and function in normal and pathological brains using MRI

Shokouhi, Mahsa (2012) Assessment of the potentials and limitations of cortical-based analysis for the integration of structure and function in normal and pathological brains using MRI. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

The software package Brainvisa (www.brainvisa.tnfo) offers a wide range of possibilities for cortical analysis using its automatic sulci recognition feature. Automated sulci identification is an attractive feature as the manual labelling of the cortical sulci is often challenging even for the experienced neuro-radiologists. This can also be of interest in fMRI studies of individual subjects where activated regions of the cortex can simply be identified using sulcal labels without the need for normalization to an atlas. As it will be explained later in this thesis, normalization to atlas can especially be problematic for pathologic brains.
In addition, Brainvisa allows for sulcal morphometry from structural MR images by estimating a wide range of sulcal properties such as size, coordinates, direction, and pattern. Morphometry of abnormal brains has gained huge interest and has been widely used in finding the biomarkers of several neurological diseases or psychiatric disorders. However mainly because of its complexity, only a limited use of sulcal morphometry has been reported so far. With a wide range of possibilities for sulcal morphometry offered by Brainvisa, it is possible to thoroughly investigate the sulcal changes due to the abnormality.
However, as any other automated method, Brainvisa can be susceptible to limitations associated with image quality. Factors such as noise, spatial resolution, and so on, can have an impact on the detection of the cortical folds and estimation of their attributes. Hence the robustness of Brainvisa needs to be assessed. This can be done by estimating the reliability and reproducibility of results as well as exploring the changes in results caused by other factors.
This thesis is an attempt to investigate the possible benefits of sulci identification and sulcal morphometry for functional and structural MRI studies as well as the limitations of Brainvisa. In addition, the possibility of improvement of activation localization with functional MRI studies is further investigated. This investigation was motivated by a review of other cortical-based analysis methods, namely the cortical surface-based methods, which are discussed in the literature review chapter of this thesis. The application of these approaches in functional MRI data analysis and their potential benefits is used in this investigation.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Keywords: Brainvisa, Evaluation, MRI
• Subjects: Q Science > QC Physics; R Medicine > RZ Other systems of medicine
• Colleges/Schools: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Psychology & Neuroscience
• Supervisor's Name: Condon, Prof. Barrie
• Date of Award: 2012
• Depositing User: Ms M Shokouhi
• Unique ID: glathesis:2012-3210
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 05 Mar 2012
• Last Modified: 10 Dec 2012 14:05
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/3210