Quantification of brain development during early childhood using non-rigid registration
Speaker: Daniel Rueckert , Imperial College London
Date: May 30 2007
Time: 1:00PM to 2:00PM
Location: 32-D463 (Star)
Host: Polina Golland, CSAIL
Contact: Polina Golland, x38005, polina@csail.mit.edu
The majority of brain growth occurs during the first two years of life, much
occurring in-utero prior to birth at 40 weeks? gestational age, and a full
understanding of human brain development must include this early period of
rapid development. The characterization of early brain development is
particularly important in infants who are born prematurely. Preterm birth
affects around 5% of births in industrialised countries and its consequences
contribute to significant individual, medical and social problems. The
principle morbidity among survivors is neurological, resulting from the
profound effect of preterm birth on the developing brain: half of all
infants born at less than 25 weeks have neurodevelopmental impairment at 30
months of age, and in less immature infants, neuropsychiatric problems are
common in the teenage years. The anatomical correlates of functional
disorders are, however, poorly characterized. Using state-of-the-art MR
imaging it is nowadays possible to study the brain development and
maturation process in infants born prematurely from as young as 25 weeks
onwards. Recent advances in MR imaging also enable the acquisition of
high-resolution fetal images. This allows us to study the brain development
in-utero as well as ex-utero. In this talk we describe the computational
challenges in the analysis of these images. In particular we describe how
non-rigid registration can be used in cross-sectional and longitudinal
studies to quantify brain development and growth between the last trimester
of pregnancy and early childhood.
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