Publications by Year: 2017

2017

Wachinger C, Brennan M, Sharp GC, Golland P. Efficient Descriptor-Based Segmentation of Parotid Glands With Nonlocal Means. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 2017;64(7):1492–1502.

OBJECTIVE: We introduce descriptor-based segmentation that extends existing patch-based methods by combining intensities, features, and location information. Since it is unclear which image features are best suited for patch selection, we perform a broad empirical study on a multitude of different features. METHODS: We extend nonlocal means segmentation by including image features and location information. We search larger windows with an efficient nearest neighbor search based on kd-trees. We compare a large number of image features. RESULTS: The best results were obtained for entropy image features, which have not yet been used for patch-based segmentation. We further show that searching larger image regions with an approximate nearest neighbor search and location information yields a significant improvement over the bounded nearest neighbor search traditionally employed in patch-based segmentation methods. CONCLUSION: Features and location information significantly increase the segmentation accuracy. The best features highlight boundaries in the image. SIGNIFICANCE: Our detailed analysis of several aspects of nonlocal means-based segmentation yields new insights about patch and neighborhood sizes together with the inclusion of location information. The presented approach advances the state-of-the-art in the segmentation of parotid glands for radiation therapy planning.

Chen Y, Georgiou TT, Ning L, Tannenbaum A. Matricial Wasserstein-1 Distance. IEEE Control Syst Lett. 2017;1(1):14–9.

We propose an extension of the Wasserstein 1-metric (W1) for density matrices, matrix-valued density measures, and an unbalanced interpretation of mass transport. We use duality theory and, in particular, a "dual of the dual" formulation of W1. This matrix analogue of the Earth Mover’s Distance has several attractive features including ease of computation.

Maier-Hein KH, Neher PF, Houde JC, Côté MA, Garyfallidis E, Zhong J, Chamberland M, Yeh FC, Lin YC, Ji Q, Reddick WE, Glass JO, Chen DQ, Feng Y, Gao C, Wu Y, Ma J, Renjie H, Li Q, Westin CF, Deslauriers-Gauthier S, González OO, Paquette M, St-Jean S, Girard G, Rheault F, Sidhu J, Tax CMW, Guo F, Mesri HY, Dávid S, Froeling M, Heemskerk AM, Leemans A, Boré A, Pinsard B, Bedetti C, Desrosiers M, Brambati S, Doyon J, Sarica A, Vasta R, Cerasa A, Quattrone A, Yeatman J, Khan AR, Hodges W, Alexander S, Romascano D, Barakovic M, Auría A, Esteban O, Lemkaddem A, Thiran JP, Cetingul E, Odry BL, Mailhe B, Nadar MS, Pizzagalli F, Prasad G, Villalon-Reina JE, Galvis J, Thompson PM, Requejo FDS, Laguna PL, Lacerda LM, Barrett R, Acqua FD, Catani M, Petit L, Caruyer E, Daducci A, Dyrby TB, Holland-Letz T, Hilgetag CC, Stieltjes B, Descoteaux M. The Challenge of Mapping the Human Connectome Based on Diffusion Tractography. Nat Commun. 2017;8(1):1349.

Tractography based on non-invasive diffusion imaging is central to the study of human brain connectivity. To date, the approach has not been systematically validated in ground truth studies. Based on a simulated human brain data set with ground truth tracts, we organized an open international tractography challenge, which resulted in 96 distinct submissions from 20 research groups. Here, we report the encouraging finding that most state-of-the-art algorithms produce tractograms containing 90% of the ground truth bundles (to at least some extent). However, the same tractograms contain many more invalid than valid bundles, and half of these invalid bundles occur systematically across research groups. Taken together, our results demonstrate and confirm fundamental ambiguities inherent in tract reconstruction based on orientation information alone, which need to be considered when interpreting tractography and connectivity results. Our approach provides a novel framework for estimating reliability of tractography and encourages innovation to address its current limitations.

Dalca A V, Bouman KL, Freeman WT, Rost NS, Sabuncu MR, Golland P. Population Based Image Imputation. Inf Process Med Imaging. 2017;10265:659–671.

We present an algorithm for creating high resolution anatomically plausible images consistent with acquired clinical brain MRI scans with large inter-slice spacing. Although large databases of clinical images contain a wealth of information, medical acquisition constraints result in sparse scans that miss much of the anatomy. These characteristics often render computational analysis impractical as standard processing algorithms tend to fail when applied to such images. Highly specialized or application-specific algorithms that explicitly handle sparse slice spacing do not generalize well across problem domains. In contrast, our goal is to enable application of existing algorithms that were originally developed for high resolution research scans to significantly undersampled scans. We introduce a model that captures fine-scale anatomical similarity across subjects in clinical image collections and use it to fill in the missing data in scans with large slice spacing. Our experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms current upsampling methods and promises to facilitate subsequent analysis not previously possible with scans of this quality.

Schabdach J, Wells WM, Cho M, Batmanghelich KN. A Likelihood-Free Approach for Characterizing Heterogeneous Diseases in Large-Scale Studies. Inf Process Med Imaging. 2017;10265:170–183.

We propose a non-parametric approach for characterizing heterogeneous diseases in large-scale studies. We target diseases where multiple types of pathology present simultaneously in each subject and a more severe disease manifests as a higher level of tissue destruction. For each subject, we model theof local image descriptors as samples generated by an unknown subject-specific probability density. Instead of approximating the probability density via a parametric family, we propose to side step the parametric inference by directly estimating the divergence between subject densities. Our method maps the collection of local image descriptors to a signaturethat is used to predict a clinical measurement. We are able to interpret the prediction of the clinical variable in the population and individual levels by carefully studying the divergences. We illustrate an application this method on simulated data as well as on a large-scale lung CT study of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Our approach outperforms classical methods on both simulated and COPD data and demonstrates the state-of-the-art prediction on an important physiologic measure of airflow (the forced respiratory volume in one second, FEV1).

Ohtani T, Nestor PG, Bouix S, Newell D, Melonakos ED, McCarley RW, Shenton ME, Kubicki M. Exploring the Neural Substrates of Attentional Control and Human Intelligence: Diffusion Tensor Imaging of Prefrontal White Matter Tractography in Healthy Cognition. Neuroscience. 2017;341:52–60.

We combined diffusion tension imaging (DTI) of prefrontal white matter integrity and neuropsychological measures to examine the functional neuroanatomy of human intelligence. Healthy participants completed the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition (WAIS-III) along with neuropsychological tests of attention and executive control, as measured by Trail Making Test (TMT) and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). Stochastic tractography, considered the most effective DTI method, quantified white matter integrity of the medial orbital frontal cortex (mOFC) and rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) circuitry. Based on prior studies, we hypothesized that posterior mOFC-rACC connections may play a key structural role linking attentional control processes and intelligence. Behavioral results provided strong support for this hypothesis, specifically linking attentional control processes, measured by Trails B and WCST perseverative errors, to intelligent quotient (IQ). Hierarchical regression results indicated left posterior mOFC-rACC fractional anisotropy (FA) and Trails B performance time, but not WCST perseverative errors, each contributed significantly to IQ, accounting for approximately 33.95-51.60% of the variance in IQ scores. These findings suggested that left posterior mOFC-rACC white matter connections may play a key role in supporting the relationship of executive functions of attentional control and general intelligence in healthy cognition.

Custo A, Van De Ville D, Wells WM, Tomescu MI, Brunet D, Michel CM. Electroencephalographic Resting-State Networks: Source Localization of Microstates. Brain Connect. 2017;7(10):671–82.

Using electroencephalography (EEG) to elucidate the spontaneous activation of brain resting-state networks (RSNs) is nontrivial as the signal of interest is of low amplitude and it is difficult to distinguish the underlying neural sources. Using the principles of electric field topographical analysis, it is possible to estimate the meta-stable states of the brain (i.e., the resting-state topographies, so-called microstates). We estimated seven resting-state topographies explaining the EEG data set with k-means clustering (N = 164, 256 electrodes). Using a method specifically designed to localize the sources of broadband EEG scalp topographies by matching sensor and source space temporal patterns, we demonstrated that we can estimate the EEG RSNs reliably by measuring the reproducibility of our findings. After subtracting their mean from the seven EEG RSNs, we identified seven state-specific networks. The mean map includes regions known to be densely anatomically and functionally connected (superior frontal, superior parietal, insula, and anterior cingulate cortices). While the mean map can be interpreted as a "router," crosslinking multiple functional networks, the seven state-specific RSNs partly resemble and extend previous functional magnetic resonance imaging-based networks estimated as the hemodynamic correlates of four canonical EEG microstates.

Pujol S, Cabeen R, Sébille SB, Yelnik J, François C, Vidal SF, Karachi C, Zhao Y, Cosgrove R, Jannin P, Kikinis R, Bardinet E. In vivo Exploration of the Connectivity between the Subthalamic Nucleus and the Globus Pallidus in the Human Brain using Multi-Fiber Tractography. Front Neuroanat. 2017;10:119.
The basal ganglia is part of a complex system of neuronal circuits that play a key role in the integration and execution of motor, cognitive and emotional function in the human brain. Parkinson s disease is a progressive neurological disorder of the motor circuit characterized by tremor, rigidity, and slowness of movement. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus and the globus pallidus pars interna provides an efficient treatment to reduce symptoms and levodopa-induced side effects in Parkinson’s disease patients. While the underlying mechanism of action of DBS is still unknown, the potential modulation of white matter tracts connecting the surgical targets has become an active area of research. With the introduction of advanced diffusion MRI acquisition sequences and sophisticated post-processing techniques, the architecture of the human brain white matter can be explored in vivo. The goal of this study is to investigate the white matter connectivity between the subthalamic nucleus and the globus pallidus. Two multi-fiber tractography methods were used to reconstruct pallido-subthalamic, subthalamo-pallidal and pyramidal fibers in five healthy subjects datasets of the Human Connectome Project. The anatomical accuracy of the tracts was assessed by four judges with expertise in neuroanatomy, functional neurosurgery, and diffusion MRI. The variability among subjects was evaluated based on the fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity of the tracts. Both multi-fiber approaches enabled the detection of complex fiber architecture in the basal ganglia. The qualitative evaluation by experts showed that the identified tracts were in agreement with the expected anatomy. Tract-derived measurements demonstrated relatively low variability among subjects. False-negative tracts demonstrated the current limitations of both methods for clinical decision-making. Multi-fiber tractography methods combined with state-of-the-art diffusion MRI data have the potential to help identify white matter tracts connecting DBS targets in functional neurosurgery intervention.
Black D, Hettig J, Luz M, Hansen C, Kikinis R, Hahn H. Auditory Feedback to Support Image-Guided Medical Needle Placement. Int J Comput Assist Radiol Surg. 2017;12(9):1655–63.
PURPOSE: During medical needle placement using image-guided navigation systems, the clinician must concentrate on a screen. To reduce the clinician’s visual reliance on the screen, this work proposes an auditory feedback method as a stand-alone method or to support visual feedback for placing the navigated medical instrument, in this case a needle. METHODS: An auditory synthesis model using pitch comparison and stereo panning parameter mapping was developed to augment or replace visual feedback for navigated needle placement. In contrast to existing approaches which augment but still require a visual display, this method allows view-free needle placement. An evaluation with 12 novice participants compared both auditory and combined audiovisual feedback against existing visual methods. RESULTS: Using combined audiovisual display, participants show similar task completion times and report similar subjective workload and accuracy while viewing the screen less compared to using the conventional visual method. The auditory feedback leads to higher task completion times and subjective workload compared to both combined and visual feedback. CONCLUSION: Audiovisual feedback shows promising results and establishes a basis for applying auditory feedback as a supplement to visual information to other navigated interventions, especially those for which viewing a patient is beneficial or necessary.