Surface area and gyrification measures in the human brain : a magnetic resonance imaging study

Abstract

This thesis was motivated by a clinical interest in identifying measurable brain structure markers that can be used as indicators of malformations of cortical development (MCD) in epilepsy. MCDs may manifest as abnormalities of brain gyrification. Gyrification is the maturnational process whereby the surface of the brain, the cortex, folds during development, enabling an increased number of cortical functional units per unit volume. In addition to the folds of the brain surface, the cortex itself is curved- a feature which facilitates cortical connectivity. Analysis of brain gyrification encompasses both aspects of cortical shape, namely cortical folding and curvature. The quantification of cerebral gyrification, as surrogate marker of MCDs in epilepsy is the objective of this work. An essential step in realising this goal, is the establishment of reliable and robust tools for in vivo measurement of brain volume and cortical surface area and curvature. Establishing these dependable tools is the subject of this thesis.