Morphological Analysis of Brain Structures Using Spatial Normalization

We present an approach for analyzing the morphology of anatomical structures of the brain, which uses an elastic transformation to normalize brain images into a reference space. The properties of this transformation are used as a quantitative description of the size and shape of brain structures; inter-subject comparisons are made by comparing the transformations themselves. The utility of this technique is demonstrated on a small group of eigth men and eight women, by comparing the shape and size of their corpus callosum, the main structure connecting the two hemispheres of the brain. Our analysis found the posterior region of the female corpus callosum to be larger than its corresponding region in the males. The average callosal shape of each group was also found, demonstrating visually the callosal shape differences between the two groups.