Fast cortical surface reconstruction from MRI using deep learning

• Published in: Brain informatics Vol. 9; no. 1; p. 6
• Main Authors: Ren, Jianxun, Hu, Qingyu, Wang, Weiwei, Zhang, Wei, Hubbard, Catherine S., Zhang, Pingjia, An, Ning, Zhou, Ying, Dahmani, Louisa, Wang, Danhong, Fu, Xiaoxuan, Sun, Zhenyu, Wang, Yezhe, Wang, Ruiqi, Li, Luming, Liu, Hesheng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.12.2022; Springer; Springer Nature B.V; SpringerOpen
• Subjects: Algorithms; Artificial Intelligence; Brain; Cognitive Psychology; Computation by Abstract Devices; Computer graphics; Computer Science; Cortical surface reconstruction; Deep learning; Extraction procedures; Finite element method; FreeSurfer; Health Informatics; Image quality; Image reconstruction; Image resolution; Level set; Machine learning; Magnetic resonance imaging; Medical imaging; Neurosciences; Pipelines; Representations; Robustness; Surface properties; T1-weighted MRI; Topology; China; Deep learning; Cortical surface reconstruction; T1-weighted MRI; Level set; FreeSurfer
• ISSN: 2198-4018; 2198-4026
• DOI: 10.1186/s40708-022-00155-7

Reconstructing cortical surfaces from structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a prerequisite for surface-based functional and anatomical image analyses. Conventional algorithms for cortical surface reconstruction are computationally inefficient and typically take several hours for each subject, causing a bottleneck in applications when a fast turnaround time is needed. To address this challenge, we propose a fast cortical surface reconstruction (FastCSR) pipeline by leveraging deep machine learning. We trained our model to learn an implicit representation of the cortical surface in volumetric space, termed the “level set representation”. A fast volumetric topology correction method and a topology-preserving surface mesh extraction procedure were employed to reconstruct the cortical surface based on the level set representation. Using 1-mm isotropic T1-weighted images, the FastCSR pipeline was able to reconstruct a subject’s cortical surfaces within 5 min with comparable surface quality, which is approximately 47 times faster than the traditional FreeSurfer pipeline. The advantage of FastCSR becomes even more apparent when processing high-resolution images. Importantly, the model demonstrated good generalizability in previously unseen data and showed high test–retest reliability in cortical morphometrics and anatomical parcellations. Finally, FastCSR was robust to images with compromised quality or with distortions caused by lesions. This fast and robust pipeline for cortical surface reconstruction may facilitate large-scale neuroimaging studies and has potential in clinical applications wherein brain images may be compromised.