Fiber tractography using machine learning.

Journal: NeuroImage
Published Date:

Abstract

We present a fiber tractography approach based on a random forest classification and voting process, guiding each step of the streamline progression by directly processing raw diffusion-weighted signal intensities. For comparison to the state-of-the-art, i.e. tractography pipelines that rely on mathematical modeling, we performed a quantitative and qualitative evaluation with multiple phantom and in vivo experiments, including a comparison to the 96 submissions of the ISMRM tractography challenge 2015. The results demonstrate the vast potential of machine learning for fiber tractography.

Authors

  • Peter F Neher
    Medical Image Computing (MIC), German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany. Electronic address: p.neher@dkfz.de.
  • Marc-Alexandre Côté
    Sherbrooke Connectivity Imaging Laboratory (SCIL), Computer Science Department, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada. Electronic address: marc-alexandre.cote@usherbrooke.ca.
  • Jean-Christophe Houde
    Sherbrooke Connectivity Imaging Laboratory (SCIL), Computer Science Department, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada. Electronic address: jean-christophe.houde@usherbrooke.ca.
  • Maxime Descoteaux
    Sherbrooke Connectivity Imaging Laboratory (SCIL), Computer Science Department, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada. Electronic address: m.descoteaux@usherbrooke.ca.
  • Klaus H Maier-Hein
    Medical Image Computing (MIC), German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany. Electronic address: k.maier-hein@dkfz.de.