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Abstract #4365

Improved Inter-Subject Functional Registration Using DARTEL in Individuals Prenatally Exposed to Alcohol

Priya Santhanam1, Zhihao Li1, Claire Coles2, Mary Ellen Lynch2, Xiaoping Hu1

1Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology/Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States; 2Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University


On account of multifaceted structural damage induced by prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE), MR image registration problems have been a roadblock in the detailed analysis of images from this population. The present study examines the applicability of DARTEL (diffeomorphic anatomical registration through exponentiated lie algebra) to functional image registration in the PAE population. As compared to Talairach transformation, functional image registration by DARTEL had more group difference clusters in expected regions, and significant correlation between intensity over one difference cluster and known exposure-related measures. Results imply DARTEL may be a more accurate method for functional image registration for the PAE population.

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