Shape Analysis on Subcortical Structures with Its Application in Children with Autism

¹Division of Bioengineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore; ²Department of Developmental Cognitive Neurology, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA; ³Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA

We introduce an automatic shape analysis approach under large deformation diffeomorphic metric mapping (LDDMM) framework for studying subcortical shape abnormalities associated with neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatrc diseases. The approach was applied to investigating basal ganglia shapes in children with Autism. Our results revealed no volume differences but remarkable shape abnormalitis of the basal ganglia in children with Autism. The shape abnormal pattern indicates that Autism involves not only one neuronal circuit.