Spatial alignment of fMRI data

Spatial alignment of fMRI of different subjects is a necessary precursor to improve functional consistency across subjects for group analysis in fMRI studies. Traditional structural MRI (sMRI) based registration methods cannot achieve accurate inter-subject functional consistency in that functional units are not necessarily located relative to anatomical structures consistently due to functional variability across subjects. In this study, we have developed image registration methods for spatially align fMRI data of different subjects by matching their local functional connectivity patterns progressively. Our methods could achieve superior registration performance for resting state fMRI data and a statistically significant improvement in functional consistency across subjects.

Publications

1. Jiang, D., et al., Groupwise spatial normalization of fMRI data based on multi-range functional connectivity patterns, Neuroimage, 2013, 82: 355–372
2. Li, H. and Fan, Y. Spatial alignment of human cortex by matching hierarchical patterns of functional connectivity, ISBI 2014: 329 – 332
3. Tang, Z., et al., Matching Functional Connectivity Patterns for Spatial Correspondence Detection in fMRI Registration, 2013, Augmented Reality Environments for Medical Imaging and Computer-Assisted Interventions, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 8090:249-257.