Abstract #0265

Sensitive and Noise-Resistant Identification of Voxel-Wise Changes in Magnetization Transfer Ratio Via Cluster Enhancement and M-Estimator-Based Monte Carlo Simulation

Michael G. Dwyer¹, Niels Bergsland¹, Sara Hussein¹, Jacqueline Durfee¹, Bianca Weinstock-Guttman^1,2, Robert Zivadinov^1,2

¹Buffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY, USA; ²The Jacobs Neurological Institute, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY, USA

We propose a sensitive and reliable means for automatically quantifying the volumes of significantly increasing and decreasing MTR in brain MRI over time. This method takes advantage of the newly developed threshold-free cluster enhancement (TFCE) technique to increase sensitivity without sacrificing specificity. It also utilizes a Monte Carlo simulation approach to ensure that results can be interpreted within a correct statistical framework. The method is validated via comparative analysis of a patient group with multiple sclerosis and a group of healthy volunteers