Marta Gaviraghi, Antonio Ricciardi, Fulvia Palesi, Wallace Brownlee, Paolo Vitali, Ferran Prados, B. Kanber, C. G. Gandini Wheeler-Kingshott
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Quantitative maps obtained with diffusion weighted (DW) imaging, such as fractional anisotropy (FA) –calculated by fitting the diffusion tensor (DT) model to the data,—are very useful to study neurological diseases. To fit this map accurately, acquisition times of the order of several minutes are needed because many noncollinear DW volumes must be acquired to reduce directional biases. Deep learning (DL) can be used to reduce acquisition times by reducing the number of DW volumes. We already developed a DL network named “one-minute FA,” which uses 10 DW volumes to obtain FA maps, maintaining the same characteristics and clinical sensitivity of the FA maps calculated with the standard method using more volumes. Recent publications have indicated that it is possible to train DL networks and obtain FA maps even with 4 DW input volumes, far less than the minimum number of directions for the mathematical estimation of the DT.Here we investigated the impact of reducing the number of DW input volumes to 4 or 7, and evaluated the performance and clinical sensitivity of the corresponding DL networks trained to calculate FA, while comparing results also with those using our one-minute FA. Each network training was performed on the human connectome project open-access dataset that has a high resolution and many DW volumes, used to fit a ground truth FA. To evaluate the generalizability of each network, they were tested on two external clinical datasets, not seen during training, and acquired on different scanners with different protocols, as previously done.Using 4 or 7 DW volumes, it was possible to train DL networks to obtain FA maps with the same range of values as ground truth - map, only when using HCP test data; pathological sensitivity was lost when tested using the external clinical datasets: indeed in both cases, no consistent differences were found between patient groups. On the contrary, our “one-minute FA” did not suffer from the same problem.When developing DL networks for reduced acquisition times, the ability to generalize and to generate quantitative biomarkers that provide clinical sensitivity must be addressed.
期刊介绍:
Frontiers in Neuroinformatics publishes rigorously peer-reviewed research on the development and implementation of numerical/computational models and analytical tools used to share, integrate and analyze experimental data and advance theories of the nervous system functions. Specialty Chief Editors Jan G. Bjaalie at the University of Oslo and Sean L. Hill at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne are supported by an outstanding Editorial Board of international experts. This multidisciplinary open-access journal is at the forefront of disseminating and communicating scientific knowledge and impactful discoveries to researchers, academics and the public worldwide.
Neuroscience is being propelled into the information age as the volume of information explodes, demanding organization and synthesis. Novel synthesis approaches are opening up a new dimension for the exploration of the components of brain elements and systems and the vast number of variables that underlie their functions. Neural data is highly heterogeneous with complex inter-relations across multiple levels, driving the need for innovative organizing and synthesizing approaches from genes to cognition, and covering a range of species and disease states.
Frontiers in Neuroinformatics therefore welcomes submissions on existing neuroscience databases, development of data and knowledge bases for all levels of neuroscience, applications and technologies that can facilitate data sharing (interoperability, formats, terminologies, and ontologies), and novel tools for data acquisition, analyses, visualization, and dissemination of nervous system data. Our journal welcomes submissions on new tools (software and hardware) that support brain modeling, and the merging of neuroscience databases with brain models used for simulation and visualization.