Left: map of volume changes between two MR images from the same subject (female alcoholic, 45 yo) with a 12 month intervall between scans. Red is volume gain, blue is volume reduction, green is unchanged. Right: corresponding reference anatomy (shape and intensity average from 16 control subjects).
Morphometry is “the quantitative measurement of the form, especially of living systems or their parts” [The American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary]. Deformation-based morphometry in particular analyzes the spatial relationships between anatomies of subjects, determined typically using nonrigid image registration methods. By grouping subjects according to disease or other distinguishing factors, characteristic differences and changes of a given population can be identified. In our work we are mostly interested in the effects of alcoholism on brain structure.
We perform both inter-subject and intra-subject morphometry. Inter-subject morphometry quantifies the structural differences between the individuals in different groups, e.g., in alcoholics vs. normal subjects. Intra-subject morphometry analyzes logitudinal image data, which is image data acquired from the same person at multiple points in time. By comparing images from different times, we can identify changes in brain structure. We then compare these changes between the different groups of subjects to the influence of disease or other conditions on brain development.
URL: http://www.stanford.edu/~rohlfing/research/dbm/index.html
Last updated October 19 2009 11:45:29.
Torsten Rohlfing, Ph.D., torsten@synapse.sri.com
SRI International, Neuroscience Program
333 Ravenswood Avenue,
Menlo Park, CA 94025-3498, USA