Anisotropic 2-D and 3-D averaging of fMRI signals

• Published in: IEEE transactions on medical imaging Vol. 20; no. 2; pp. 86 - 93
• Main Authors: Sole, A.F., Shing-Chung Ngan, Sapiro, G., Xiaoping Hu, Lopez, A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01.02.2001; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Algorithms; Anisotropic magnetoresistance; Anisotropy; Biological and medical sciences; Blood; Brain; Brain - physiology; Brain Mapping; Brain modeling; Computer Simulation; Electroencephalography; Engineering profession; Fourier Analysis; Hemodynamics; Humans; Imaging, Three-Dimensional; Investigative techniques, diagnostic techniques (general aspects); Magnetic resonance imaging; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods; Medical sciences; Nervous system; Noise reduction; Noninvasive medical procedures; Protocols; Radiodiagnosis. Nmr imagery. Nmr spectrometry; Signal to noise ratio; Spatial resolution; Human; Averaging method; Two dimensional system; Noise reduction; Adaptive system; Central nervous system; Spatial analysis; Fourier analysis; Functional analysis; Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging; Anisotropy; Three dimensional system; Medical imagery; Performance; Signal analysis; Brain (vertebrata)
• ISSN: 0278-0062; 1558-254X
• DOI: 10.1109/42.913175

A novel method for denoising functional magnetic resonance imaging temporal signals is presented in this note. The method is based on progressively enhancing the temporal signal by means of adaptive anisotropic spatial averaging. This average is based on a new metric for comparing temporal signals corresponding to active fMRI regions. Examples are presented both for simulated and real two and three-dimensional data. The software implementing the proposed technique is publicly available for the research community.