Structural Connectome Atlas Construction in the Space of Riemannian Metrics

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel method for analyzing structural connectomes by representing them as Riemannian metrics within an infinite-dimensional manifold, enabling advanced statistical analysis and atlas construction.

Contribution

It proposes a Riemannian metric framework for connectome analysis and demonstrates atlas formation using the Ebin metric on diffusion tensor-derived connectomes.

Findings

Successful connectome registration and atlas creation

Application to Human Connectome Project data

Demonstration of statistical analysis in Riemannian space

Abstract

The structural connectome is often represented by fiber bundles generated from various types of tractography. We propose a method of analyzing connectomes by representing them as a Riemannian metric, thereby viewing them as points in an infinite-dimensional manifold. After equipping this space with a natural metric structure, the Ebin metric, we apply object-oriented statistical analysis to define an atlas as the Fr\'echet mean of a population of Riemannian metrics. We demonstrate connectome registration and atlas formation using connectomes derived from diffusion tensors estimated from a subset of subjects from the Human Connectome Project.