A locus-driven mechanism for rapid and automated atlas-assisted analysis of functional images by using the Brain Atlas for Functional Imaging.

OBJECT Functional imaging is an established neurosurgical modality for studying the brain in health and disease. Identifying numerous activation loci on many functional images and reading their underlying cortical and subcortical anatomy, coordinates, and anatomical and functional values is a tedious, time-consuming, and error-prone task. In this study the authors propose a novel approach to this problem by using an electronic brain atlas in conjunction with a locus-driven mechanism. METHODS The Brain Atlas for Functional Imaging containing an enhanced and extended electronic version of the Talairach-Tournoux brain atlas was used for analysis. It enables loading of anatomical and functional data, correlation of these data, identification of activation loci, and their labeling with Brodmann areas, gyri, and subcortical structures by means of the atlas. The Talairach proportional grid system transformation is used to register the anatomical and functional data with the atlas. The availability of numerous tools supports this process. A locus-driven mechanism for analysis of activation loci is implemented. Locus placement within the activation region is supported by thresholding, and its location can be further edited in three dimensions on any orthogonal plane. Once all loci are identified and edited, their labels, coordinates, and anatomical/functional values are read automatically and saved in an external file. This mechanism enables the analysis to be performed in an automated, rapid, explicit, three-dimensionally consistent, and user-friendly way. CONCLUSIONS The electronic brain atlas with locus-driven mechanism is a useful tool for localization analysis of functional images.