Probabilistic tractography-based thalamic parcellation in healthy newborns and newborns with congenital heart disease
Abstract
Given the central role of the thalamus in motor, sensory, and cognitive development, methods to study emerging thalamocortical connectivity in early infancy are of great interest. To determine the feasibility of performing probabilistic tractography-based thalamic parcellation (PTbTP) in typically developing (TD) neonates and to compare the results with a pilot sample of neonates with congenital heart disease (CHD). Institutional Review Board (IRB)-approved cross-sectional study. We prospectively recruited 20 TD neonates and five CHD neonates (imaged preoperatively). MRI was performed at 3.0T including diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and 3D magnetization prepared rapid gradient-echo (MPRAGE). A radiologist and trained research assistants segmented the thalamus and seven cortical targets for each hemisphere. Using the thalami as seeds and the cortical labels as targets, FSL library tools were used to generate probabilistic tracts. A Hierarchical Dirichlet Process algorithm was then used for clustering analysis. A radiologist qualitatively assessed the results of clustering. Quantitative analyses were also performed. We summarized the demographic data and results of clustering with descriptive statistics. Linear regressions cova...Continue Reading
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