An Anatomically Curated Fiber Clustering White Matter Atlas for Consistent White Matter Tract Parcellation across the Lifespan
An Immersive Virtual Reality Environment for Diagnostic Imaging
Inter-site and Inter-scanner Diffusion MRI Data Harmonization
The Open Anatomy Browser: A Collaborative Web-Based Viewer for Interoperable Anatomy Atlases
Unsupervised Discovery of Emphysema Subtypes in a Large Clinical Cohort
Identifying Shared Brain Networks in Individuals by Decoupling Functional and Anatomical Variability
Supra-Threshold Fiber Cluster Statistics for Data-Driven Whole Brain Tractography Analysis
Free Water Modeling of Peritumoral Edema using Multi-fiber Tractography
Estimation of Bounded and Unbounded Trajectories in Diffusion MRI
Principal Gradient of Macroscale Cortical Organization
Slide 10
Evolution of a Simultaneous Segmentation and Atlas Registration
Multi-modality MRI-based Atlas of the Brain
Intracranial Fluid Redistribution
Corticospinal Tract Modeling for Neurosurgical Planning by Tracking through Regions of Peritumoral Edema and Crossing Fibers
Automated White Matter Fiber Tract Identification in Patients with Brain Tumors
State-space Models of Mental Processes from fMRI
Robust Initialization of Active Shape Models for Lung Segmentation in CT Scans: A Feature-Based Atlas Approach
Tractography-driven Groupwise Multi-Scale Parcellation of the Cortex
Gray Matter Alterations in Early Aging
Statistical Shape Analysis: From Landmarks to Diffeomorphisms
A Generative Probabilistic Model and Discriminative Extensions for Brain Lesion Segmentation
Joint Modeling of Imaging and Genetic Variability
MR-Ultrasound Fusion for Neurosurgery
Diffusion MRI and Tumor Heterogeneity
SlicerDMRI: Open Source Diffusion MRI Software for Brain Cancer Research

Neuroimage Analysis Center

The Neuroimaging Analysis Center is a research and technology center with the mission of advancing the role of neuroimaging in health care. The ability to access huge cohorts of patient medical records and radiology data, the emergence of ever-more detailed imaging modalities, and the availability of unprecedented computer processing power marks the possibility for a new era in neuroimaging, disease understanding, and patient treatment. We are excited to present a national resource center with the goal of finding new ways of extracting disease characteristics from advanced imaging and computation, and to make these methods available to the larger medical community through a proven methodology of world-class research, open-source software, and extensive collaboration.

Our Sponsor

The NAC is a Biomedical Technology Resource Center supported by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) (P41 EB015902). It was supported by the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) (P41 RR13218) through December 2011.

Contact the Center Directors

Carl-Fredrik Westin, PhD
Laboratory of Mathematics in Imaging
Brigham and Women's Hospital
1249 Boylston St., Room 240
Boston, MA 02215
Phone: +1 617 525-6209
E-mail: westin at bwh.harvard.edu
 

Ron Kikinis, MD
Surgical Planning Laboratory 
Brigham and Women's Hospital 
75 Francis St, L1 Room 050
Boston, MA 02115
Phone: +1 617 732-7389
E-mail: kikinis at bwh.harvard.edu
 

 

Recent Publications

  • Kordelle J, Millis M, Jolesz FA, Kikinis R, Richolt JA. Three-dimensional Analysis of the Proximal Femur in Patients with Slipped Capital Femoral Epiphysis Based on Computed Tomography. J Pediatr Orthop. 2001;21(2):179–82.
    A three-dimensional (3D) analysis based on computed tomography was performed to study the 3D geometry of the proximal femur in cases of slipped capital femoral epiphysis (SCFE). For this purpose, new interactive software was developed to analyze hip joint geometry using 3D models without pelvis tilting and projected errors. Twenty-two patients, 8 girls and 14 boys, with a total of 30 slipped capital femoral epiphyses, were reviewed. In the affected hips, we observed a reduced femoral anteversion of 7.0 degrees (vs. 12.7 degrees) and a reduced femoral shaft neck angle of 134.2 degrees (vs. 141.0 degrees). In response to these results, we suggest that an SCFE is associated with reduced femoral anteversion and a reduced femoral shaft neck angle.
  • Bharatha A, Hirose M, Hata N, Warfield SK, Ferrant M, Zou KH, Suarez-Santana E, Ruiz-Alzola J, D\textquoterightAmico A V, Cormack RA, Kikinis R, Jolesz FA, Tempany CM. Evaluation of Three-dimensional Finite Element-based Deformable Registration of Pre- and Intraoperative Prostate Imaging. Med Phys. 2001;28(12):2551–60.
    In this report we evaluate an image registration technique that can improve the information content of intraoperative image data by deformable matching of preoperative images. In this study, pretreatment 1.5 tesla (T) magnetic resonance (MR) images of the prostate are registered with 0.5 T intraoperative images. The method involves rigid and nonrigid registration using biomechanical finite element modeling. Preoperative 1.5 T MR imaging is conducted with the patient supine, using an endorectal coil, while intraoperatively, the patient is in the lithotomy position with a rectal obturator in place. We have previously observed that these changes in patient position and rectal filling produce a shape change in the prostate. The registration of 1.5 T preoperative images depicting the prostate substructure [namely central gland (CG) and peripheral zone (PZ)] to 0.5 T intraoperative MR images using this method can facilitate the segmentation of the substructure of the gland for radiation treatment planning. After creating and validating a dataset of manually segmented glands from images obtained in ten sequential MR-guided brachytherapy cases, we conducted a set of experiments to assess our hypothesis that the proposed registration system can significantly improve the quality of matching of the total gland (TG), CG, and PZ. The results showed that the method statistically-significantly improves the quality of match (compared to rigid registration), raising the Dice similarity coefficient (DSC) from prematched coefficients of 0.81, 0.78, and 0.59 for TG, CG, and PZ, respectively, to 0.94, 0.86, and 0.76. A point-based measure of registration agreement was also improved by the deformable registration. CG and PZ volumes are not changed by the registration, indicating that the method maintains the biomechanical topology of the prostate. Although this strategy was tested for MRI-guided brachytherapy, the preliminary results from these experiments suggest that it may be applied to other settings such as transrectal ultrasound-guided therapy, where the integration of preoperative MRI may have a significant impact upon treatment planning and guidance.
  • Gugino LD, Romero JR, Aglio LS, Titone D, Ramirez M, Pascual-Leone A, Grimson EL, Weisenfeld N, Kikinis R, Shenton ME. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Coregistered with MRI: A Comparison of a Guided versus Blind Stimulation Technique and its Effect on Evoked Compound Muscle Action Potentials. Clin Neurophysiol. 2001;112(10):1781–92.
    INTRODUCTION AND METHODS: Compound muscle action potentials (CMAPs) elicited by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) are characterized by enormous variability, even when attempts are made to stimulate the same scalp location. This report describes the results of a comparison of the spatial errors in coil placement and resulting CMAP characteristics using a guided and blind TMS stimulation technique. The former uses a coregistration system, which displays the intersection of the peak TMS induced electric field with the cortical surface. The latter consists of the conventional placement of the TMS coil on the optimal scalp position for activation of the first dorsal interossei (FDI) muscle. RESULTS: Guided stimulation resulted in significantly improved spatial precision for exciting the corticospinal projection to the FDI compared to blind stimulation. This improved precision of coil placement was associated with a significantly increased probability of eliciting FDI responses. Although these responses tended to have larger amplitudes and areas, the coefficient of variation between guided and blind stimulation induced CMAPs did not significantly differ. CONCLUSION: The results of this study demonstrate that guided stimulation improves the ability to precisely revisit previously stimulated cortical loci as well as increasing the probability of eliciting TMS induced CMAPs. Response variability, however, is due to factors other than coil placement.
  • Westin CF, Wigström L, Loock T, Sjöqvist L, Kikinis R, Knutsson H. Three-dimensional Adaptive Filtering in Magnetic Resonance Angiography. J Magn Reson Imaging. 2001;14(1):63–71.
    In order to enhance 3D image data from magnetic resonance angiography (MRA), a novel method based on the theory of multidimensional adaptive filtering has been developed. The purpose of the technique is to suppress image noise while enhancing important structures. The method is based on local structure estimation using six 3D orientation selective filters, followed by an adaptive filtering step controlled by the local structure information. The complete filtering procedure requires approximately 3 minutes of computational time on a standard workstation for a 256 x 256 x 64 data set. The method has been evaluated using a mathematical vessel model and in vivo MRA data (both phase contrast and time of flight (TOF)). 3D adaptive filtering results in a better delineation of small blood vessels and efficiently reduces the high-frequency noise. Depending on the data acquisition and the original data type, contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) improvements of up to 179% (8.9 dB) were observed. 3D adaptive filtering may provide an alternative to prolonging the scan time or using contrast agents in MRA when the CNR is low.
  • Hirayasu Y, Tanaka S, Shenton ME, Salisbury DF, Desantis MA, Levitt JJ, Wible CG, Yurgelun-Todd D, Kikinis R, Jolesz FA, McCarley RW. Prefrontal Gray Matter Volume Reduction in First Episode Schizophrenia. Cereb Cortex. 2001;11(4):374–81.
    Functional measures have consistently shown prefrontal abnormalities in schizophrenia. However, structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings of prefrontal volume reduction have been less consistent. In this study, we evaluated prefrontal gray matter volume in first episode (first hospitalized) patients diagnosed with schizophrenia, compared with first episode patients diagnosed with affective psychosis and normal comparison subjects, to determine the presence in and specificity of prefrontal abnormalities to schizophrenia. Prefrontal gray and white matter volumes were measured from first episode patients with schizophrenia (n = 17), and from gender and parental socio-economic status-matched subjects with affective (mainly manic) psychosis (n = 17) and normal comparison subjects (n = 17), age-matched within a narrow age range (18—29 years). Total (left and right) prefrontal gray matter volume was significantly reduced in first episode schizophrenia compared with first episode affective psychosis and comparison subjects. Follow-up analyses indicated significant left prefrontal gray matter volume reduction and trend level reduction on the right. Schizophrenia patients showed 9.2% reduction on the left and 7.7% reduction on the right compared with comparison subjects. White matter volumes did not differ among groups. These data suggest that prefrontal cortical gray matter volume reduction is selectively present at first hospitalization in schizophrenia but not affective psychosis.