Claims
- 1. A non-invasive method to determine and localize a change in brain integrity in a compartment of a brain, comprising the steps of:
(a) providing structural images and metabolite brain images of said brain for at least two time instances; (b) aligning said structural brain images and said metabolic brain images and thereby creating aligned images; (c) segmenting one or more compartments from said aligned images; (d) determining said change in brain integrity over said at least two times instances in said one or more compartments of said brain.
- 2. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein said change in brain integrity is assessed by determining a neuronal marker.
- 3. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein said change in brain integrity is assessed by determining N-acetyl aspartate.
- 4. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein said change in brain integrity is assessed by determining a combination of neuronal markers, wherein said neuronal markers are selected from the group consisting of N-acetyl aspartate, creatine, choline and myo-inositol.
- 5. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein said at least two time instances are at least 3 months apart.
- 6. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein said at least two time instances are at least 6 months apart.
- 7. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein said at least two time instances are at least 12 months apart.
- 8. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein said change in brain integrity is assessed from a normal aging brain.
- 9. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein said change in brain integrity is assessed from a brain of a patient with a neurodegenerative condition wherein said neurodegenerative condition is selected from the group consisting of Alzheimer's disease, AIDS, stroke, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and epilepsy.
- 10. The method as set forth in claim 9, wherein the time between said at least two time instances is determined by the progression of said neurodegenerative condition.
- 11. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein said one or more compartments contain gray matter, white matter or cerebrospinal fluid.
- 12. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein said step of determining said change in brain integrity comprises the step of fitting a model to said one or more compartments with a maximum-likelihood solution which takes into account a Rician-distributed noise on a low-signal-to-noise magnitude.
- 13. A non-invasive method to determine and localize a change in N-acetyl aspartate in a compartment of a brain, comprising the steps of:
(a) providing structural images and metabolite brain images of said brain for at least two time instances; (b) aligning said structural brain images and said metabolic brain images and thereby creating aligned images; (c) segmenting one or more compartments from said aligned images; and (d) determining said change in N-acetyl aspartate over said at least two times instances in said one or more compartments of said brain.
- 14. The method as set forth in claim 13, wherein said change in N-acetyl aspartate is assessed by determining said change in N-acetyl aspartate in combination with neuronal markers, wherein said neuronal markers are selected from the group consisting of creatine, choline and myo-inositol.
- 15. The method as set forth in claim 13, wherein said at least two time instances are at least 3 months apart.
- 16. The method as set forth in claim 13, wherein said at least two time instances are at least 6 months apart.
- 17. The method as set forth in claim 13, wherein said at least two time instances are at least 12 months apart.
- 18. The method as set forth in claim 13, wherein said change in N-acetyl aspartate is assessed from a normal aging brain.
- 19. The method as set forth in claim 13, wherein said change in N-acetyl aspartate is assessed from a patient with a neurodegenerative condition wherein said neurodegenerative condition is selected from the group consisting of Alzheimer's disease, AIDS, stroke, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and epilepsy.
- 20. The method as set forth in claim 19, wherein the time between said at least two time instances is determined by the progression of said neurodegenerative condition.
- 21. The method as set forth in claim 13, wherein said one or more compartments contain gray matter, white matter or cerebrospinal fluid.
- 22. The method as set forth in claim 13, wherein said step of determining said change in N-acetyl aspartate comprises the step of fitting a model to said compartments with a maximum-likelihood solution which takes into account a Rician-distributed noise on a low-signal-to-noise magnitude.
- 23. A non-invasive method of assessing the efficacy of a treatment over a course of said treatment, wherein said treatment comprises at least two interventions at different time instances, by determining and localizing a change in brain integrity in a compartment of a brain, comprising the steps of:
(a) providing structural images and metabolite brain images of said brain after each of said at least two interventions have taken effect; (b) aligning said structural brain images and said metabolic brain images and thereby creating aligned images; (c) segmenting one or more compartments from said aligned images; and (d) determining said change in brain integrity over said course of said treatment in said one or more compartments of said brain.
- 24. The method as set forth in claim 23, wherein said change in brain integrity is assessed by determining a neuronal marker.
- 25. The method as set forth in claim 23, wherein said change in brain integrity is assessed by determining N-acetyl aspartate.
- 26. The method as set forth in claim 23, wherein said change in brain integrity is assessed by determining a combination of neuronal markers, wherein said neuronal markers are selected from the group consisting of N-acetyl aspartate, creatine, choline and myo-inositol.
- 27. The method as set forth in claim 23, wherein said at least two interventions are at least 3 months apart.
- 28. The method as set forth in claim 23, wherein said at least two interventions are at least 6 months apart.
- 29. The method as set forth in claim 23, wherein said at least two interventions are at least 12 months apart.
- 30. The method as set forth in claim 23, wherein said change in brain integrity is assessed from a normal aging brain.
- 31. The method as set forth in claim 23, wherein said change in brain integrity is assessed from a brain of a patient with a neurodegenerative condition wherein said neurodegenerative condition is selected from the group consisting of Alzheimer's disease, AIDS, stroke, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and epilepsy.
- 32. The method as set forth in claim 31, wherein the time between said at least two time instances is determined by the progression of said neurodegenerative condition.
- 33. The method as set forth in claim 23, wherein said one or more compartments contain gray matter, white matter or cerebrospinal fluid.
- 34. The method as set forth in claim 23, wherein said step of determining said change in brain integrity comprises the step of fitting a model to said one or more compartments with a maximum-likelihood solution which takes into account a Rician-distributed noise on a low-signal-to-noise magnitude.
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
[0001] This invention was supported in part by grant numbers AG-11427, CA-48269 and RR-09874 from the National Institute of Health (NIH). The U.S. Government has certain rights in the invention.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60278563 |
Mar 2001 |
US |