Projektbeschreibung
Kartierung des menschlichen Subkortex als wäre er „terra incognita“
Der Subkortex umfasst etwa ein Viertel des menschlichen Hirnvolumens. Standardmäßige mithilfe der Magnetresonanztomografie (MRT) erstellte Atlanten des menschlichen Gehirns enthalten nur 7 % der subkortikalen grauen Substanz. Dieser geringe prozentuale Anteil resultiert wahrscheinlich aus der kleinen Größe der subkortikalen Kerne und der großen Entfernung des Subkortex von der Kopfspule des MRT-Geräts. Im Rahmen des EU-finanzierten Projekts Atlas werden der menschliche Subkortex kartiert (als „terra incognita“) und ein Werkzeug für die Lokalisierung und Visualisierung neuer Zielstrukturen für die Tiefe Hirnstimulation entwickelt. Das Ziel ist dabei, probabilistische Atlaskarten für Operationen mit Tiefer Hirnstimulation mit noch nie dagewesener Detailgenauigkeit sowie eine 3D-App für Bildungszwecke zu erstellen.
Ziel
The human subcortex is a highly crowded brain area, which consists of hundreds of unique, small grey matter nuclei constituting approximately ¼ of total human brain volume. Importantly, only approximately 7% of these nuclei are currently accessible in standard human brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) atlases (Forstmann et al., 2016). This low percentage can have several imaging related causes, including the small size of subcortical nuclei as compared to the voxel size, which is particularly relevant when applying 1.5 or 3 Tesla (T) MRI. Additionally, the challenges posed by the large distance of the subcortex from the head coil may be a cause. In light of the vast amount of uncharted brain areas, one can also think of the human subcortex as ‘terra incognita’. The aim of this proposal is to chart ‘terra incognita’ to create a tool to identify and localize new targets for DBS.
Major efforts of my group have already been directed towards resolving at least part of the challenges of imaging the human subcortex through the development of ultra-high field resolution 7T magnetic resonance imaging (UHF-MRI) sequences tailored to image the subcortex. Within our project ‘Atlasing the human subcortex’, collaborations with world-leading companies in DBS technology such as Boston Scientific (http://www.vercise.com/index.cfm) have been established. Here, we aim to extend these efforts by applying for funding for research personnel that will execute the manual segmentations and validation of new potentially more efficient target areas for DBS neurosurgery. These efforts will lead to creating probabilistic atlas maps for DBS surgery with unprecedented detail as well as a 3D app for educational purposes both in the clinical and basic neurosciences. These efforts will ultimately lead to commercial products that have already attracted attention of world-leading DBS companies.
Wissenschaftliches Gebiet
Programm/Programme
Thema/Themen
Finanzierungsplan
ERC-POC - Proof of Concept GrantGastgebende Einrichtung
1012WX Amsterdam
Niederlande