Efficient statistical methods for inference and model selection in diffusion-weighted MRI models

Diffusion-Weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging (DW-MRI) on the brain is a revolutionary method that provides in-vivo access to tissue macrostructure non-invasively (Basser et al., 1994). Recently, DW-MRI has been shown to have great potential in characterising brain microstructure, such as diameter a...

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Main Author: Mott, Lisa
Format: Thesis (University of Nottingham only)
Language:English
Published: 2016
Online Access:http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31173/
http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31173/1/Lisa_Mott_PhD_thesis.pdf
id nottingham-31173
recordtype eprints
spelling nottingham-311732017-10-12T19:59:31Z http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31173/ Efficient statistical methods for inference and model selection in diffusion-weighted MRI models Mott, Lisa Diffusion-Weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging (DW-MRI) on the brain is a revolutionary method that provides in-vivo access to tissue macrostructure non-invasively (Basser et al., 1994). Recently, DW-MRI has been shown to have great potential in characterising brain microstructure, such as diameter and size distribution of neuronal fibres, features that were available so far only postmortem or through animal studies (Zhang et al., 2011). Using a process known as Tractography the existence of brain connections can be estimated using a set of DW images (Basser et al., 2000). The main aim of this thesis is to develop efficient methods for studying Tractography within a Bayesian framework. In order to characterise the white matter in the brain we focus on the widely used partial volume model (Behrens et al., 2003). We describe methods that are both time and computationally efficient for estimating the parameters of the partial volume model, before reparametrising the model, so that parameter estimation is viable in some special cases. The partial volume model allows for multiple fibre orientations so we develop methodology to choose between the number of white matter fibres in a voxel. We then take into account the uncertainty in the number of fibre orientations and provide a Fully Probabilistic Tractography method as an alternative to existing Tractography algorithms. Finally we look into the Global Tractography model (Jbabdi et al., 2007) and develop efficient methods for inferring connections between brain regions by investigating methods based on Thermodynamic Integration. 2016-03-15 Thesis (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31173/1/Lisa_Mott_PhD_thesis.pdf Mott, Lisa (2016) Efficient statistical methods for inference and model selection in diffusion-weighted MRI models. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham.
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Local University
institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
language English
description Diffusion-Weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging (DW-MRI) on the brain is a revolutionary method that provides in-vivo access to tissue macrostructure non-invasively (Basser et al., 1994). Recently, DW-MRI has been shown to have great potential in characterising brain microstructure, such as diameter and size distribution of neuronal fibres, features that were available so far only postmortem or through animal studies (Zhang et al., 2011). Using a process known as Tractography the existence of brain connections can be estimated using a set of DW images (Basser et al., 2000). The main aim of this thesis is to develop efficient methods for studying Tractography within a Bayesian framework. In order to characterise the white matter in the brain we focus on the widely used partial volume model (Behrens et al., 2003). We describe methods that are both time and computationally efficient for estimating the parameters of the partial volume model, before reparametrising the model, so that parameter estimation is viable in some special cases. The partial volume model allows for multiple fibre orientations so we develop methodology to choose between the number of white matter fibres in a voxel. We then take into account the uncertainty in the number of fibre orientations and provide a Fully Probabilistic Tractography method as an alternative to existing Tractography algorithms. Finally we look into the Global Tractography model (Jbabdi et al., 2007) and develop efficient methods for inferring connections between brain regions by investigating methods based on Thermodynamic Integration.
format Thesis (University of Nottingham only)
author Mott, Lisa
spellingShingle Mott, Lisa
Efficient statistical methods for inference and model selection in diffusion-weighted MRI models
author_facet Mott, Lisa
author_sort Mott, Lisa
title Efficient statistical methods for inference and model selection in diffusion-weighted MRI models
title_short Efficient statistical methods for inference and model selection in diffusion-weighted MRI models
title_full Efficient statistical methods for inference and model selection in diffusion-weighted MRI models
title_fullStr Efficient statistical methods for inference and model selection in diffusion-weighted MRI models
title_full_unstemmed Efficient statistical methods for inference and model selection in diffusion-weighted MRI models
title_sort efficient statistical methods for inference and model selection in diffusion-weighted mri models
publishDate 2016
url http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31173/
http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31173/1/Lisa_Mott_PhD_thesis.pdf
first_indexed 2018-09-06T12:06:53Z
last_indexed 2018-09-06T12:06:53Z
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