Title: Functional MR image statistical restoration for neural activity detection using hidden Markov tree model

Authors: Chuan Li; Qi Hao

Addresses: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA ' Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA

Abstract: In this paper, we present a framework for functional MR image restoration based on the Hidden Markov Tree (HMT) model. Under this scheme, the wavelet/contourlet coefficients of the distorted image are filtered using the HMT model of the baseline image to minimise the statistical divergence between two images. An iterative algorithm between image registration and HMT filtering is developed to achieve a trade-off between the least mean square error (in the spatial domain) and the minimum statistical divergence (in the spectral domain). We demonstrate that the proposed method can eliminate the motion artefacts (such as spikes and burring) in the Functional MR Imaging data more effectively, leading to reliable neural activity detection. This method can also be used for image restoration in other medical imaging applications.

Keywords: fMRI; image statistical restoration; wavelet; contourlet; hidden Markov tree; HMT; image restoration; functional MRI; magnetic resonance imaging; neural activity detection; hidden Markov model; HMM; image registration; filtering; medical imaging.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCBDD.2013.055463

International Journal of Computational Biology and Drug Design, 2013 Vol.6 No.3, pp.190 - 209

Published online: 18 Sep 2014 *

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