Rootlets-based registration to the spinal cord PAM50 template

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2505.00115v1
• Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2025 18:37:39 GMT
• Title: Rootlets-based registration to the spinal cord PAM50 template
• Authors: Sandrine Bédard, Jan Valošek, Valeria Oliva, Kenneth A. Weber II, Julien Cohen-Adad,
• Abstract summary: Traditional template-based registration of the spinal cord uses intervertebral discs for alignment.<n> rootlet-based registration showed superior alignment across individuals compared to the traditional disc-based method.
• Score: 0.0
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Abstract: Spinal cord functional MRI studies require precise localization of spinal levels for reliable voxelwise group analyses. Traditional template-based registration of the spinal cord uses intervertebral discs for alignment. However, substantial anatomical variability across individuals exists between vertebral and spinal levels. This study proposes a novel registration approach that leverages spinal nerve rootlets to improve alignment accuracy and reproducibility across individuals. We developed a registration method leveraging dorsal cervical rootlets segmentation and aligning them non-linearly with the PAM50 spinal cord template. Validation was performed on a multi-subject, multi-site dataset (n=267, 44 sites) and a multi-subject dataset with various neck positions (n=10, 3 sessions). We further validated the method on task-based functional MRI (n=23) to compare group-level activation maps using rootlet-based registration to traditional disc-based methods. Rootlet-based registration showed superior alignment across individuals compared to the traditional disc-based method. Notably, rootlet positions were more stable across neck positions. Group-level analysis of task-based functional MRI using rootlet-based increased Z scores and activation cluster size compared to disc-based registration (number of active voxels from 3292 to 7978). Rootlet-based registration enhances both inter- and intra-subject anatomical alignment and yields better spatial normalization for group-level fMRI analyses. Our findings highlight the potential of rootlet-based registration to improve the precision and reliability of spinal cord neuroimaging group analysis.

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