Fabrice Poupon1,2, Dominique Hasboun3, Linda Marrakchi1,2, Eric Bardinet4, Jean-Franois Mangin1,2, Irina Kezele1,2, Sarah Fernandez-Vidal5, Kamil Ugurbil6, Stphane Lehericy7, Cyril Poupon1,2, Pierre-Franois van de Moortele6, Jrme Yelnik5
1NeuroSpin, CEA, Saclay, France; 2IFR49, Paris, France; 3Groupe Hospitalier Piti-Salptrire, Paris, France; 4CNRS-UPR 640, LENA, Paris, France; 5Inserm U679, Paris, France; 6CMRR, Minneapolis, USA; 7CENIR, Paris, France
Spatial resolution improved with ultra-high field MR systems, and new contrasts based on iron concentration help the segmentation of some mesencephalon structures which are of interest in Parkinson disease studies. Nonetheless, in a variant of Parkinsons disease, smaller structures of the brainstem are involved. An experienced anatomist explored the brainstem structures by direct identification in a gradient-echo T2-weighted MRI at 7T. This identification was guided by two histological atlases: a 3D histological and deformable atlas of the basal ganglia comprising several structures of the mesencephalon and a numerized and reconstructed version of a printed atlas of the entire brainstem.