Segmentation and construction of thalamic nuclei templates from magnetic resonance images

• Grant number: 15/04273-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): June 01, 2015
• Effective date (End): May 31, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Medical Radiology
• Principal Investigator: Daniel Souza Ferreira Magalhães
• Grantee: Alline Fernanda de Barros Camargo
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Médicas (FCM). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 13/13272-9 - Systems development for direct visualization of three-dimensional radiological images, diagnostic applications and their use in the teaching of neuroanatomy, AP.JP

Abstract

The thalamus is the main responsible for processing information and distributes them to specific areas of the cerebral cortex and consists of three functional cores groups. Each functional group receives one type of information and directs it to the appropriate regions of the cerebral cortex. Considered to be a deep brain structure, an alternative to the study of the thalamus is the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and its various methods of implementation, which enables an analysis of the morphology and structure connectivity. The images acquired by MRI allow the creation of reference images, the templates, which can be used to compare the structures between individuals as well as providing better identification of those structures. The templates of thalamic nuclei are very important in the neurological study, enabling a quantitative and morphometric analysis of structures and, in the planning of surgeries, greater structural visibility, reducing the risks of invasive procedures, such as deep brain stimulation. Studies in some diseases such as multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease, amenable to treatment with deep brain stimulation, indicating changes in thalamic nuclei, morphological, volumetric and quantitative. The objective of this study is to create templates of each thalamic nucleus from its segmentation in MR images of healthy individuals, by analyzing the variability between images and averaging between volumetric changes found, in order to improve the visualization of the structure in medical planning and academic studies, including the three-dimensional shape of the acquired images.