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Brain Atlas for Functional Imaging
The Bookshelf
Mauricio Castillo, MD, Editor
BRAIN ATLAS FOR FUNCTIONAL IMAGING: CLINICAL AND RESEARCH APPLICATIONS W. L. Nowinski, A. Thirunavuukarasuu, D. N. Kennedy. Thieme, New York, NY, 2000: CD-ROM, $299.00.
Although the material reviewed here is available in an electronic medium and not as printed matter, I have decided to include it because of its importance to neuroradiologists. Please note that the usual “four star” scale that we use to rate books does not apply to electronic media and thus was not used for this review.—M.C. This is an elegant software tool designed for people who perform functional magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. The main purpose of this program is to provide brain atlas localization of functional activated areas detected with MR imaging. The CD-ROM contains the color-coded and labeled Talairach-Tournoux brain atlas in the axial, coronal, and sagittal orientations, along with Brodmann areas and gyri in the axial orientation. To use this tool, investigators first download a set of anatomic images of a patient. Next, landmarks in the TalairachTournoux brain atlas reference space are located on the images (including the anterior and posterior commissures and the superior, lateral, and inferior brain cortices). This is fairly simply accomplished by sliding reference lines to the appropriate locations on the images. Next, the patient’s image data set is automatically “warped” according to the Talairaich-Tournoux proportional grid system transformation, so that it matches the atlas. If functional images are available, these are downloaded next. The program registers, or combines, the functional images with the imaging data and the atlas. Fine tuning of the warping can be accomplished by manually altering the reference points. The data and atlas are viewed in three planes, with simultaneous display of the atlas, the anatomic image, and the functional image within an interactively blended image. Atlas-data blending and anatomic-functional image blending can be controlled independently. Finally, the user can place marks on the activation loci in the warped functional images, display these marks with the
Grading Key:
924
夹夹夹夹 ⫽ excellent 夹夹夹 ⫽ good 夹夹 ⫽ fair 夹 ⫽ poor
atlas, and edit them simultaneously in the axial, coronal, and sagittal orientations. The marks can be automatically labeled by means of the atlas. The atlas can be flipped left to right so that Brodmann areas and gyri can be labeled on either hemisphere. The user may print a file with the TalairachTournoux coordinates and intensities of all marks, including Brodmann area and gyri names. This is a nicely designed tool. I was able to load the program and process the included sample data set within a few minutes. Versions for Windows and Macintosh are included. There are a few shortcomings, however. The manual is fairly complete but is included only as a file on the disk. Considering the price, a printed manual or at least an installation and reference card should be included. It is possible to print images only by saving them first. For this type of tool, at least one printable image format should be provided. Also, there are fairly restrictive requirements for the data sets to be imported. Most researchers wanting to use this tool will probably be able to meet these requirements by using other available software tools, but some clinical imaging users might have difficulty. If you plan to use this tool, study the manual carefully prior to acquiring images. Finally, I would like to be able to access the atlas as a reference tool without having to load an image set and warp it, but this is not possible. Overall, this is an easy tool to use and it does its job well. If you need a tool to map functional image data with the use of an atlas, this would be a good choice. J. Keith Smith, MD, PhD University of North Carolina School of Medicine Chapel Hill, NC
Mauricio Castillo, MD, Editor
BRAIN ATLAS FOR FUNCTIONAL IMAGING: CLINICAL AND RESEARCH APPLICATIONS W. L. Nowinski, A. Thirunavuukarasuu, D. N. Kennedy. Thieme, New York, NY, 2000: CD-ROM, $299.00.
Although the material reviewed here is available in an electronic medium and not as printed matter, I have decided to include it because of its importance to neuroradiologists. Please note that the usual “four star” scale that we use to rate books does not apply to electronic media and thus was not used for this review.—M.C. This is an elegant software tool designed for people who perform functional magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. The main purpose of this program is to provide brain atlas localization of functional activated areas detected with MR imaging. The CD-ROM contains the color-coded and labeled Talairach-Tournoux brain atlas in the axial, coronal, and sagittal orientations, along with Brodmann areas and gyri in the axial orientation. To use this tool, investigators first download a set of anatomic images of a patient. Next, landmarks in the TalairachTournoux brain atlas reference space are located on the images (including the anterior and posterior commissures and the superior, lateral, and inferior brain cortices). This is fairly simply accomplished by sliding reference lines to the appropriate locations on the images. Next, the patient’s image data set is automatically “warped” according to the Talairaich-Tournoux proportional grid system transformation, so that it matches the atlas. If functional images are available, these are downloaded next. The program registers, or combines, the functional images with the imaging data and the atlas. Fine tuning of the warping can be accomplished by manually altering the reference points. The data and atlas are viewed in three planes, with simultaneous display of the atlas, the anatomic image, and the functional image within an interactively blended image. Atlas-data blending and anatomic-functional image blending can be controlled independently. Finally, the user can place marks on the activation loci in the warped functional images, display these marks with the
Grading Key:
924
夹夹夹夹 ⫽ excellent 夹夹夹 ⫽ good 夹夹 ⫽ fair 夹 ⫽ poor
atlas, and edit them simultaneously in the axial, coronal, and sagittal orientations. The marks can be automatically labeled by means of the atlas. The atlas can be flipped left to right so that Brodmann areas and gyri can be labeled on either hemisphere. The user may print a file with the TalairachTournoux coordinates and intensities of all marks, including Brodmann area and gyri names. This is a nicely designed tool. I was able to load the program and process the included sample data set within a few minutes. Versions for Windows and Macintosh are included. There are a few shortcomings, however. The manual is fairly complete but is included only as a file on the disk. Considering the price, a printed manual or at least an installation and reference card should be included. It is possible to print images only by saving them first. For this type of tool, at least one printable image format should be provided. Also, there are fairly restrictive requirements for the data sets to be imported. Most researchers wanting to use this tool will probably be able to meet these requirements by using other available software tools, but some clinical imaging users might have difficulty. If you plan to use this tool, study the manual carefully prior to acquiring images. Finally, I would like to be able to access the atlas as a reference tool without having to load an image set and warp it, but this is not possible. Overall, this is an easy tool to use and it does its job well. If you need a tool to map functional image data with the use of an atlas, this would be a good choice. J. Keith Smith, MD, PhD University of North Carolina School of Medicine Chapel Hill, NC