Verne S. Caviness, M.D., D.Phil.
Center for Morphometric Analysis
The Morphometric Analysis Program began within the Department of Neurology at the Massachusetts General Hospital in 1985 as a pilot exploration of the feasibility of MRI-based morphometry of the brain in human and animal models. This initiative was advanced by collaborations with the Whitaker College of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Research & Development Teams of MRI system manufacturers. Our conceptualization of morphometry has evolved substantially over the past five years, which has opened the door to a much broader concept of the in vivo study of central nervous system morphology, including but not limited to the analysis of shape and geometric topology as parameters independent of volumetric abnormalities. The Center for Morphometric Analysis is dedicated to the ongoing development and application of morphometric methods to high-resolution MRI. Through these endeavors, we have developed a semi-automated computerized method of morphometric analysis based upon high resolution magnetic resonance imaging, which includes algorithms for the in vivo analyses of volume, shape and geometric topology of whole brain, substructure, and focal lesions. This morphometric methodology, as applied to MRI, is a substantial advance, offering the important advantage of standardized, high resolution measures of any structure which can be visualized by MRI. The morphometric algorithm is now at an advanced stage of development, and has been tested by clinical and research protocols. Collaborations are now in place with multiple investigators, including neurologists, neuropsychologist, psychiatrists, radiologists, physicists, spectroscopists, nuclear engineers, and computer scientists.
The Morphometric Analysis Program is currently funded through the National Institutes of Health to investigate the incidence of subtle anatomic aberrations in developmental disorders in children (language disorders and autism), and in inherited neurologic diseases in all ages (for instance, Batten's disease, tuberous sclerosis, and neurofibromatosis). We have recently expended our focus to include funded studies on brain tumors in both humans and in animal models. In addition, numerous pilot studies are in progress to investigate developmental dyslexia, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, and autosomal dominant forms of ataxia.
The goals of the Center for Morphometric Analysis focus on the expedition of parallel interdependent aspects of the Program, involving both the actual magnetic resonance image acquisition and the subsequent morphometric analyses:
- To optimize the entire morphometric algorithm to a level of efficiency which will permit user-friendly applications to the statistically-mandated groups of human and animal subjects and controls emerging from the multiple collaborations.
- To achieve the evolution of the Morphometric Analysis Program into a comprehensive program of brain science by realizing those essential morphometric applications which are currently in the conceptual or preliminary stages.
- To augment the development of MRI pulse sequences for morphometric analysis of both the human and animal brain, to provide the highest-possible imaging time, independent of MR system or manufacturer.
- To facilitate development in spectroscopic and position emission imaging techniques, to complement the structural analyses with the physiological determinations requisite for an encompassing program in brain science.