INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF WISDOM BASED COMPUTING, VOL.

1(1), 2011

On Experimenting with Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Both Hands Movement

J. Satheeshkumar, Student Member, IEEE, R. Rajesh, Member, IEEE, S. Arumugaperumal, Member, IEEE, C. Kesavdas, Fellow, Functional Neuroimaging
Abstract Functional magnetic resonance imaging is an improved method for identifying neural correlates of psychological processes, regionally specic changes and motor/sensory activation region for specic function in human brain. These activations and characteristics can be estimated based on Blood Oxygen Level-Dependent (BOLD) phenomena, which are modeled in a statistical framework such as general linear modal to obtain statistical parametric maps of the various neuronal activations for a particular task. This article mainly focused on step by step procedure of identifying motor/sensory activation region for specic stimuli, which helps the radiologists and researchers for better interpretation. This article also presents the results and inferences from neuroimaging data of hand movement experiment using statistical parametric mapping (SPM). The results match with activation atlas by Peneld and Rasmussen (1950). Index Terms BOLD, fMRI, SPM, Hand movement.

I. I NTRODUCTION
The recent developments in medical imaging from the past few decades allow researchers to study more about cognitive tasks. Understanding the function of human brain is still a complex task for researchers as well as radiologists. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a noninvasive technique with high spatial and temporal resolution has provided a method of visualizing a correlate of neural activity and helps researchers to address unanswered questions in psychology, cognitive science, psychopathology, etc. [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9], [10], [11], [13]. Blood Oxygen level dependent (BOLD) is an improved technique in fmri for measuring various motor/sensory activation regions of human brain. This BOLD phenomena is based on difference of concentration between oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin. The changes in the hemoglobin composition are proportionate to the neuronal activity of brain. Recent advances in functional neuroimaging techniques are revolutionizing the approach to surgical planning in tumor resection and in patients with intractable epilepsy [15]. SPM2 is a relatively new tool used for mapping Functional Magnetic
J. Satheeshkumar and Dr. R. Rajesh are with Dept. of Computer Science and Engg., Bharathiar University, Coimbatore - 46, India Prof. Dr. S. Arumugaperumal is with Dept. of Computer Science, St. Hindu College, Nagercoil, India Dr. C. Kesavdas, Additional Professor, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Thiruavanathapuram, India

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF WISDOM BASED COMPUTING, VOL. 1(1), 2011

Fig. 1.

Paradigm design using boxcar.

Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to a statistical parametric map to identify the sensor, motor and cognitive tasks in the specic regions of the brain. This article presents a detailed experimental study of a tumor patient. The study reported in this article forms only an initial analysis of nding the region of inuence of hand movement and to understand whether tumor is having any inuence in the hand movement region. This study is not for identifying and diagnosing tumor. This article also explains sequence of steps involved for getting statistical parametric map and the results match with the sensory/motor activation atlas by Peneld and Rasmussen (1950) [12], [14]. This article is organized as follows. Section II explains the experimental setup, materials and methods for the study reported in this article. Section III presents the simulation and the results of the experimental study. Section IV concludes the article.

II. M ATERIALS

AND METHODS

The fMRI data set of a subject used in this study was imaged from a 1.5T MRI system (Siemens Avanto), Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram, India. A structural image of the brain with 176 slices of 1 mm thickness was obtained for overlaying the nal results. Functional images of 100 volumes were obtained during the experiment, where each volume consists of 36 slices of 3mm thickness. Each volume scan was acquired over 3.58 seconds with voxel size of 64x64x36. The total experiment took around 6 minutes to complete the scan. The subject was asked to move both hands in specied timings. The experiment started with 10 scans (35.8 sec) of rest followed by 10 scans (35.8 sec) of hand movement. Five cycles of rest-hand movement completes the experiment obtaining 100 volumes of data. Fig. 1 shows the boxcar design for the paradigm. The data were analyzed using statistical parametric mapping (SPM2, Wellcome Department of Cognitive Neurology, London, UK) implemented in Matlab [3], [4]. The scanning protocol used sequential axial-slice acquisition in ascending order, activations in different slices were measured at different time points. Hence the data was interpolated and resampled during realignment phase. A mean image was created during the realignment phase. The structural MRI, acquired using a standard three-dimensional weighted sequence was co-registered to this mean ( ) image. The data were smoothed using a 8mm full width at half maximum

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF WISDOM BASED COMPUTING, VOL. 1(1), 2011

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Fig. 2.

Translation of images with respect to the rst functional image

isotropic Gaussian kernel. Data analysis was performed by modeling the different conditions (hand movement and rest) as reference waveform in the context of the general linear model [3]. t-statistics for all the voxels were obtained by testing the specic stimuli with appropriate linear contrasts. The z-statistics, namely the statistical parametric map (SPM) was obtained by transforming the t-statistics. These statistical parametric maps are then interpreted. To identify the regions of responses, the hand movement and rest stimulus conditions were compared. The detailed simulations and the results of each steps of simulation along with the parameters are discussed in the following sections. R ESULTS All functional images were realigned to the rst functional image using a sixparameter rigid-body transformation [4]. A mean image was created during the realignment phase. Fig. 2 shows the x, y, & z translations and Fig. 3 shows the pitch, roll, & yaw rotations. The structural MRI, acquired using a standard three dimensional weighted sequence was co-registered to the mean ( ) image. For analysis using SPM, the images were spatially smoothed using Gaussian with FWHM 8 mm. In the design stage of fMRI, interscan interval (TR) was assigned as 3.58 secs, where TR is the time taken to gather one whole-brain volume. The vector onsets given for the experiment should match with the paradigm design and was assigned as [ ] (given in scans) with duration of 10 scans. Fig. 4 shows the Time domain regressors for hand and Fig. 5 shows the Frequency domain using 128 second High-pass lter. After specifying the spm.mat le and all smoothed images in the data specication stage of fMRI, the design matrix is created and is showed in the Fig. 6. Following the design and data specication, estimation is done which estimates parameters, smoothness parameters and hyperparameters. Statistical parametric mapping is done after estimation with t-contrast as [ ], where 1 represents the active condition [Statistical parametric mapping refers
AND

III. S IMULATION

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF WISDOM BASED COMPUTING, VOL. 1(1), 2011

x 10

pitch roll yaw 0.5

mm
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Fig. 3.

Rotation off images with respect to the rst functional image

0.8

regressor[s]

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Time domain regressors for hands

0.2 0.18 0.16

relative spectral density

0.14 0.12 0.1 0.08 0.06 0.04 0.02

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0.06 0.08 Frequency (Hz)

0.1

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Fig. 5.

Frequency domain using 128 second High-pass lter

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF WISDOM BASED COMPUTING, VOL. 1(1), 2011

Both Hands

Constant

Images

Parameters

Fig. 6. Design Matrix. The rst column contains timing for the both hand movement. White strips correspond to the hand movement. The second column corresponds to the constant.

to the construction of spatially extended statistical processes to test hypotheses about regionally specic effects (Friston et al 1991). Statistical parametric maps (SPMs) are image processes with voxel values that are, under the null hypothesis, distributed according to a known probability density function, usually the Students T or F distributions. These are known colloquially as T- or F-maps]. This process under goes T test and produces the T-map. Fig. 7 shows the T-map which gives the maximum intensity projection on the so called glass brain. Fields signicantly activated by hand-motion obtained after t-test (p-values are adjusted for search volume) are shown in Table 1. Orthogonal sections of the threshold statistic image overlaid on high resolution weighted structural image is shown in Fig. 8, where the white regions show the activations due to hand movement. The results match with the sensory/motor activation atlas by Peneld and Rasmussen (1950). Fig. 9 shows the 3-D view of activation regions(white regions identied by arrow line) for hand-movement. Hemodynamic responses of a voxel at [-34 -44 17] (corresponds to global maximum) have also been carried out and the results are as follows. Hemodynamic responses of a voxel at maximum intensity projection ([-34 -44 17]) with radius 3mm is shown in the Fig. 10. Stimulus efcacy with 90% condence intervals, State variables for the rst order kernel, Hemodynamic parameters, 1st order and 2nd order kernals for BOLD responses for the voxel ([-34 -44 17]) are shown respectively in Figs. 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. It is found from the experiment that the tumor has not making signicant change in hand activation region since the tumor is not exactly located in hand activation region of the subject.

IV. C ONCLUSION
Functional magnetic resonance imaging is an efcient method of medical imaging, which provides much new information about the function of human brain. This information helps medical researchers and radiologists for better

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF WISDOM BASED COMPUTING, VOL. 1(1), 2011

Fig. 7. Glass Brain. The motor activation region of the hand movement is visible as dark gray clusters in the glass brain

Fig. 8. Overlay of ltered SPM on a structural image. The white regions show the activations due to hand movement

interpretation of results and for understanding about unknown activation regions, which may responsible for various stimuli given to the subject. This article presents statistical parametric maps of a tumor subject obtained from Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology and the results match with the sensory/motor activation atlas by Peneld and Rasmussen (1950). The inferences shows that the tumor has not making signicant change in hand activation region since the tumor is not exactly located in hand activation region of the subject. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The rst two authors are thankful to Dr. A.K.Gupta, Dr. C. Sujesh, Dr. B. Thomas, Dr. Kapilamoorthy and colleagues in the Department of Imaging Sciences and Interventional Radiology, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology for supporting them to do their research training in the institution.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF WISDOM BASED COMPUTING, VOL. 1(1), 2011

TABLE I F IELDS SIGNIFICANTLY ACTIVATED BY HAND - MOTION OBTAINED AFTER T- TEST ( P - VALUES ARE
ADJUSTED FOR SEARCH VOLUME )

Cluster-level

voxel-level

x, y, z mm

464

T 12.75 7.54 6.30 9.31 9.16 8.35 7.81 7.03 7.06 6.24 5.55 6.96 6.94 4.57 4.56 4.43 4.28 3.59 3.55 3.52 3.39 3.25 Inf 6.65 5.74 7.80 7.72 7.20 6.84 6.29 6.31 5.69 5.15 6.24 6.22 4.33 4.33 4.21 4.08 3.47 3.43 3.41 3.28 3.16

0.000

0.000

0.000

348

0.000

0.001 0.000

70 228

0.000 0.000

0.001 0.000 0.177 0.258 0.424 0.228 0.997 0.918 0.997 0.985 0.997

75 115 19 16 12 17 1 4 1 2 1

0.000 0.000 0.019 0.030 0.055 0.026 0.574 0.247 0.574 0.414 0.574

0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.004 0.000 0.000 0.191 0.193 0.282 0.415 0.976 0.985 0.989 0.998 1.000

0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.001 0.001 0.007 0.008 0.009 0.013 0.018

0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.001 0.001

-34 -19 -50 28 44 40 38 31 20 -12 20 -24 -20 55 -8 -47 -24 47 51 23 15 -39

-44 -40 -40 -35 -39 -43 27 15 -63 -63 -71 27 -67 -16 -16 -17 -9 -27 -12 11 -47 -75

17 28 2 24 13 5 -55 -66 -62 -62 -85 -51 -88 -10 2 -2 -77 -70 -36 -51 -92 -62

Fig. 9.

Three Dimensional view of activation regions(identied arrow line) for hand-movement

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF WISDOM BASED COMPUTING, VOL. 1(1), 2011

Time(Seconds)

Fig. 10.

Hemodynamic motion of a voxel at [55 -16 26] with radius 3mm

Fig. 11.

Stimulus efcacy with 90% condence intervals for hand movement

They are also thankful to all staff of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Bharathiar University for their support.

R EFERENCES
[1] Bandettini PA, Jesmanowicz A, Wong EC, Hyde JS: Processing strategies for time course data sets in functional MRI of the human brain. Mag. Res. Med. 30: 161-173, 1993. [2] Bullmore ET, Brammer MJ, Williams SCR et Al: Statistical methods of estimation and inference for functional MR images. Mag. Res. Med. 35: 261-277, 1996. [3] Friston KJ, Homles AP, Worsley KJ et Al: Statistical parametric maps in functional imaging: a general linear approach. Human Brain Map 2: 189-210, 1995. [4] Friston KJ, Ashburner J, Frith CD et Al: Spatial registration and normalization of images. Human Brain Mapp 2:165-189, 1995. [5] Friston KJ, Jezzard PJ, Turner R: Analysis of functional MRI time-series. Hum. Brain Mapp. 1:153171, 1994. [6] Friston KJ, Frith CD, Turner R, and Frackowiak RSJ: Characterizing evoked hemodynamics with fMRI. NeuroImage 2:157-165, 1995 [7] Friston KJ, Ungerleider LG, Jezzard P, and Turner R: Characterizing modulatory interactions between V1 and V2 in human cortex with fMRI. Hum. Brain Mapp. 2: 211-224, 1995. [8] Friston KJ, Williams S, Howard R, Frackowiak RSJ, and Turner R: Movement related effects in fMRI time series. Mag. Res. Med. 35:346-355, 1996. [9] Gerardin E, Lehericy S, Pochon JB et Al: Foot, Hand, Face and Eye Representation in the Human Stratum. Cerebral cortex 13:162-169, 2003. [10] Stefan Koelsch, Thomas Fritz, Katrin Schulze, David Alsop and Gottfried Schlauga: Adults and children processing music: An fMRI study. NeuroImage 25, 1068-1076, 2005. [11] Mrocz I, Karni A, Haut S, Lantos G, and Liu G: fMRI of triggerable aurae in musicogenic epilepsy. NEUROLOGY 60, 705-709, 2003. [12] Peneld W, Rasmussen T: The cerebral cortex of man. New York: Macmillan, 1950.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF WISDOM BASED COMPUTING, VOL. 1(1), 2011

Normalized Values

Time in Seconds for Both hands

Fig. 12.

State variables for the rst order kernel - Hand activation

Fig. 13.

Hemodynamic parameters for Hand activation

[13] Sadato N, Okada T, Honda M et Al: Cross-model intergartion and plastic changes revealed by lip movement, random-dot motion and sign languages in the hearing and deaf. Cerebral Cortex 15: 11131122, 2005. [14] Talairach J. Tournoux P: Co-planar stereotaxic atlas of the human brain. New york, Thieme 1998. [15] fMRI Brain Mapping Paradigms: Task Requirements and Recommendations - White Paper. Neurognostics, Inc., 1-9, 2006.

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10

Normalized flow signal

Time in Seconds for Both hands

Fig. 14.

BOLD response for hand movement - 1st order kernal

Time in Seconds for Both hands

Fig. 15.

BOLD response for hand movement - 2nd order kernal