A Comparison of the Cingulum Tract in ALS-B Patients and Controls Using Kernel Matching
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive motor neuron disease with poor prognosis. Previous DW-MRI based studies in ALS on WM tracts showed a decrease of FA in tracts related to the motor system. Recent evidence suggests that extra-motor tracts are also affected by ALS. This paper aims to analyse the cingulum tracts of ALS patients and controls. To do so, we introduce kernel matching, a novel method to obtain optimal correspondence between the white matter tracts. The orientation of tract tensors in atlas space as well as the global tract shape are employed as prior information. The method proved successful to reduce the large variance of tensor shape features along the cinguli emanating from registration errors. Only after applying the proposed kernel matching method we found a significant increase in the tensor norm of both cinguli. We hypothesize that the degeneration of fibers increases tensor norm.
Sander van Noorden Matthan Caan Maaike van der Graaff Lucas van Vliet Frans Vos
Quantitative Imaging Group, Delft University of Technology, NL Quantitative Imaging Group, Delft University of Technology, NL Academic Medical Center, University o Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, NL
国际会议
北京
英文
249-256
2010-09-01（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）