Motion-robust MRI through real-time motion tracking and retrospective super-resolution volume reconstruction.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is highly sensitive to motion; hence current practice is based on the prevention of motion during scan. In newborns, young children, and patients with limited cooperation, this commonly requires full sedation or general anesthesia, which is time consuming, costly, and is associated with significant risks. Despite progress in prospective motion correction in MRI, the use of motion compensation techniques is limited by the type and amount of motion that can be compensated for, the dependency on the scanner platform, the need for pulse sequence modifications, and/or difficult setup.

Super-Resolution Reconstruction of Diffusion-Weighted Images from Distortion Compensated Orthogonal Anisotropic Acquisitions.

Increasing the spatial resolution in diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) is challenging with a single-shot EPI acquisition because of the decreased SNR and T2* relaxation. Recently, acquisition of orthogonal anisotropic acquisitions and super-resolution reconstruction (SRR) of the underlying high-resolution image has been proposed to achieve higher resolution. Promising results have been shown with simulations.

School Age Effects of the Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program for Medically Low-Risk Preterm Infants: Preliminary Findings.

Background: By school age, even low risk moderately preterm-born children show more neuro-cognitive deficits, underachievement, behavioral problems, and poor social adaptation than full-term peers.

Aim: To evaluate the outcomes at school-age for moderately preterm-born children (29-33 weeks gestational age), appropriate in growth for gestational age (AGA) and medically at low-risk, randomized to Newborn Individualized Developmental Care and Assessment Program (NIDCAP) or standard care in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit. At school-age, the experimental (E) group will show better neuropsychological and neuro-electrophysiological function, as well as improved brain structure than the control (C) group.

Optimizing hippocampal segmentation in infants utilizing MRI post-acquisition processing.

This study aims to determine the most reliable method for infant hippocampal segmentation by comparing magnetic resonance (MR) imaging post-acquisition processing techniques: contrast to noise ratio (CNR) enhancement, or reformatting to standard orientation. MR scans were performed with a 1.5 T GE scanner to obtain dual echo T2 and proton density (PD) images at term equivalent (38-42 weeks' gestational age).

Automated delineation of white matter fiber tracts with a multiple region-of-interest approach.

White matter fiber bundles of the brain can be delineated by tractography utilizing multiple regions-of-interest (MROI) defined by anatomical landmarks. These MROI can be used to specify regions in which to seed, select, or reject tractography fibers. Manual identification of anatomical MROI enables the delineation of white matter fiber bundles, but requires considerable training to develop expertise, considerable time to carry out and suffers from unwanted inter- and intra-rater variability.

Corpus callosum alterations in very preterm infants: perinatal correlates and 2 year neurodevelopmental outcomes.

The aim of this study was to relate altered corpus callosum (CC) integrity in 106 very preterm (VPT) infants (<30 weeks' gestational age or <1250 g birth weight) at term equivalent to perinatal predictors and neurodevelopmental outcomes at two years. T1 and diffusion magnetic resonance images were obtained. The CC was traced, and divided into six sub-regions for cross-sectional area and shape analyses.

Loss of white matter microstructural integrity is associated with adverse neurological outcome in tuberous sclerosis complex.

Rationale And Objectives: Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is a genetic neurocutaneous syndrome in which cognitive and social-behavioral outcomes for patients vary widely in an unpredictable manner. The cause of adverse neurologic outcome remains unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the hypothesis that disordered white matter and abnormal neural connectivity are associated with adverse neurologic outcomes.

Learning likelihoods for labeling (L3): a general multi-classifier segmentation algorithm.

Purpose: To develop an MRI segmentation method for brain tissues, regions, and substructures that yields improved classification accuracy. Current brain segmentation strategies include two complementary strategies. Multi-spectral classification techniques generate excellent segmentations for tissues with clear intensity contrast, but fail to identify structures defined largely by location, such as lobar parcellations and certain subcortical structures.

Spatially adaptive log-euclidean polyaffine registration based on sparse matches.

Log-euclidean polyaffine transforms have recently been introduced to characterize the local affine behavior of the deformation in principal anatomical structures. The elegant mathematical framework makes them a powerful tool for image registration. However, their application is limited to large structures since they require the pre-definition of affine regions.

Super-resolution in diffusion-weighted imaging.

Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) enables non-invasive investigation and characterization of the white-matter but suffers from a relatively poor resolution. In this work we propose a super-resolution reconstruction (SRR) technique based on the acquisition of multiple anisotropic orthogonal DWI scans. We address the problem of patient motions by aligning the volumes both in space and in q-space.

Quantitative body DW-MRI biomarkers uncertainty estimation using unscented wild-bootstrap.

We present a new method for the uncertainty estimation of diffusion parameters for quantitative body DW-MRI assessment. Diffusion parameters uncertainty estimation from DW-MRI is necessary for clinical applications that use these parameters to assess pathology. However, uncertainty estimation using traditional techniques requires repeated acquisitions, which is undesirable in routine clinical use.

Brain perfusion in asphyxiated newborns treated with therapeutic hypothermia.

Background And Purpose: Induced hypothermia is thought to work partly by mitigating reperfusion injury in asphyxiated term neonates. The purpose of this study was to assess brain perfusion in the first week of life in these neonates.

Materials And Methods: In this prospective cohort study, MR imaging and ASL-PI were used to assess brain perfusion in these neonates.

Segmentations of MRI images of the female pelvic floor: a study of inter- and intra-reader reliability.

Purpose: To describe the inter- and intra-operator reliability of segmentations of female pelvic floor structures.

Materials And Methods: Three segmentation specialists were asked to segment out the female pelvic structures in 20 MR datasets on three separate occasions. The STAPLE algorithm was used to compute inter- and intra-segmenter agreement of each organ in each dataset.

Quantitative in vivo MRI measurement of cortical development in the fetus.

Normal brain development is associated with expansion and folding of the cerebral cortex following a highly orchestrated sequence of gyral-sulcal formation. Although several studies have described the evolution of cerebral cortical development ex vivo or ex utero, to date, very few studies have characterized and quantified the gyrification process for the in vivo fetal brain. Recent advances in fetal magnetic resonance imaging and post-processing computational methods are providing new insights into fetal brain maturation in vivo.

3D XFEM-based modeling of retraction for preoperative image update.

Outcomes for neurosurgery patients can be improved by enhancing intraoperative navigation and guidance. Current navigation systems do not accurately account for intraoperative brain deformation. So far, most studies of brain deformation have focused on brain shift, whereas this paper focuses on the brain deformation due to retraction.

Accelerating image registration with the Johnson-Lindenstrauss lemma: application to imaging 3-D neural ultrastructure with electron microscopy.

We present a novel algorithm to accelerate feature based registration, and demonstrate the utility of the algorithm for the alignment of large transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images to create 3-D images of neural ultrastructure. In contrast to the most similar algorithms, which achieve small computation times by truncated search, our algorithm uses a novel randomized projection to accelerate feature comparison and to enable global search. Further, we demonstrate robust estimation of nonrigid transformations with a novel probabilistic correspondence framework, that enables large TEM images to be rapidly brought into alignment, removing characteristic distortions of the tissue fixation and imaging process.

Characterization of the corpus callosum in very preterm and full-term infants utilizing MRI.

The corpus callosum is the largest white matter tract, important for interhemispheric communication. The aim of this study was to investigate and compare corpus callosum size, shape and diffusion characteristics in 106 very preterm infants and 22 full-term infants. Structural and diffusion magnetic resonance images were obtained at term equivalent.

Incorporating priors on expert performance parameters for segmentation validation and label fusion: a maximum a posteriori STAPLE.

In order to evaluate the quality of segmentations of an image and assess intra- and inter-expert variability in segmentation performance, an Expectation Maximization (EM) algorithm for Simultaneous Truth And Performance Level Estimation (STAPLE) was recently developed. This algorithm, originally presented for segmentation validation, has since been used for many applications, such as atlas construction and decision fusion. However, the manual delineation of structures of interest is a very time consuming and burdensome task.

Maximum a posteriori estimation of isotropic high-resolution volumetric MRI from orthogonal thick-slice scans.

Thick-slice image acquisitions are sometimes inevitable in magnetic resonance imaging due to limitations posed by pulse sequence timing and signal-to-noise-ratio. The estimation of an isotropic high-resolution volume from thick-slice MRI scans is desired for improved image analysis and evaluation. In this article we formulate a maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimation algorithm for high-resolution volumetric MRI reconstruction.

Patient-specific non-linear finite element modelling for predicting soft organ deformation in real-time: application to non-rigid neuroimage registration.

Long computation times of non-linear (i.e. accounting for geometric and material non-linearity) biomechanical models have been regarded as one of the key factors preventing application of such models in predicting organ deformation for image-guided surgery.

Can induced hypothermia be assured during brain MRI in neonates with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy?

Until now, brain MRIs in asphyxiated neonates who are receiving therapeutic hypothermia have been performed after treatment is complete. However, there is increasing interest in utilizing early brain MRI while hypothermia is still being provided to rapidly understand the degree of brain injury and possibly refine neuroprotective strategies. This study was designed to assess whether therapeutic hypothermia can be maintained while performing a brain MRI.

Early versus late MRI in asphyxiated newborns treated with hypothermia.

Objective: The purposes of this feasibility study were to assess: (1) the potential utility of early brain MRI in asphyxiated newborns treated with hypothermia; (2) whether early MRI predicts later brain injury observed in these newborns after hypothermia has been completed; and (3) whether early MRI indicators of brain injury in these newborns represent reversible changes.

Patients And Methods: All consecutive asphyxiated term newborns meeting the criteria for therapeutic hypothermia were enrolled prospectively. Each newborn underwent one or two early MRI scans while receiving hypothermia, on day of life (DOL) 1 and DOL 2-3 and also one or two late MRI scans on DOL 8-13 and at 1 month of age.

Fetal brain volumetry through MRI volumetric reconstruction and segmentation.

Purpose: Fetal MRI volumetry is a useful technique but it is limited by a dependency upon motion-free scans, tedious manual segmentation, and spatial inaccuracy due to thick-slice scans. An image processing pipeline that addresses these limitations was developed and tested.

Materials And Methods: The principal sequences acquired in fetal MRI clinical practice are multiple orthogonal single-shot fast spin echo scans.

Robust super-resolution volume reconstruction from slice acquisitions: application to fetal brain MRI.

Fast magnetic resonance imaging slice acquisition techniques such as single shot fast spin echo are routinely used in the presence of uncontrollable motion. These techniques are widely used for fetal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and MRI of moving subjects and organs. Although high-quality slices are frequently acquired by these techniques, inter-slice motion leads to severe motion artifacts that are apparent in out-of-plane views.

Morphological characteristics of brain tumors causing seizures.

Objective: To quantify size and localization differences between tumors presenting with seizures vs nonseizure neurological symptoms.

Design: Retrospective imaging survey. We performed magnetic resonance imaging-based morphometric analysis and nonparametric mapping in patients with brain tumors.