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01-06-2020 | Magnetic Resonance Imaging | Original Article

A systematic comparison of structural-, structural connectivity-, and functional connectivity-based thalamus parcellation techniques

Authors: Charles Iglehart, Martin Monti, Joshua Cain, Thomas Tourdias, Manojkumar Saranathan

Published in: Brain Structure and Function | Issue 5/2020

Abstract

The thalamus consists of several histologically and functionally distinct nuclei increasingly implicated in brain pathology and important for treatment, motivating the need for development of fast and accurate thalamic parcellation. The contrast between thalamic nuclei as well as between the thalamus and surrounding tissues is poor in T1- and T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), inhibiting efforts to date to segment the thalamus using standard clinical MRI. Automatic parcellation techniques have been developed to leverage thalamic features better captured by advanced MRI methods, including magnetization prepared rapid acquisition gradient echo (MP-RAGE), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and resting-state functional MRI (fMRI). Despite operating on fundamentally different image contrasts, these methods claim a high degree of agreement with the Morel stereotactic atlas of the thalamus. However, no comparison has been undertaken to compare the results of these disparate parcellation methods. We have implemented state-of-the-art structural-, diffusion-, and functional imaging-based thalamus parcellation techniques and used them on a single set of subjects. We present the first systematic qualitative and quantitative comparison of these methods. The results show that DTI parcellation agrees more with structural parcellation in the larger thalamic nuclei, while rsfMRI parcellation agrees more with structural parcellation in the smaller nuclei. Structural parcellation is the most accurate in the delineation of small structures such as the habenular, antero-ventral, and medial geniculate nuclei.

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Title: A systematic comparison of structural-, structural connectivity-, and functional connectivity-based thalamus parcellation techniques
Authors: Charles Iglehart
Martin Monti
Joshua Cain
Thomas Tourdias
Manojkumar Saranathan
Publication date: 01-06-2020
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Keywords: Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Published in: Brain Structure and Function / Issue 5/2020
Print ISSN: 1863-2653
Electronic ISSN: 1863-2661
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-020-02085-8

At a glance: The STEP trials

Springer Medicine

A systematic comparison of structural-, structural connectivity-, and functional connectivity-based thalamus parcellation techniques

Abstract

At a glance: The STEP trials

Springer Medicine

Abstract

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