Digital 3D Brain MRI Arterial Territories Atlas

Area of Science:

• Neuroimaging
• Neurology
• Medical Informatics

Background:

• Vascular atlases aid in quantifying brain damage from vascular insults.
• Existing digital arterial atlases are limited for automated analysis in clinical research.
• A need exists for a comprehensive, digital MRI arterial atlas.

Purpose of the Study:

• To create the first publicly available, digital, 3D deformable atlas of brain arterial territories.
• To facilitate automated data analysis and large-scale processing of brain MRIs.
• To support research in stroke and other neurological conditions.

Main Methods:

• Generated a digital arterial territory atlas from lesion distributions in 1,298 acute stroke patients.
• Manually traced lesions on diffusion-weighted MRIs and mapped them to a common space.
• Defined arterial territory boundaries using probabilistic lesion maps.

Main Results:

• Developed a digital atlas defining four major supra- and infra-tentorial arterial territories (Anterior, Middle, Posterior Cerebral Arteries, Vertebro-Basilar).
• Included hierarchical sub-territories (thalamoperforating, lenticulostriate, basilar, cerebellar).
• The atlas is publicly available and 3D deformable.

Conclusions:

• The created atlas is the first of its kind, offering a valuable resource for stroke research.
• Enables reproducible, large-scale processing and analysis of brain MRIs.
• Supports quantitative assessment of brain damage in vascular insults.