Featured Based Deformable Registration of Diffusion MRI Using the Fiber Orientation Distribution

Luke Bloy¹, Ragini Verma²

Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) has developed into an important tool for the study of WM diseases such as multiple sclerosis, as well as neurodevelopmental disorders, such as schizophrenia, epilepsy and autism. DTI is however limited in its ability to model complex white matter, which has prompted the development of higher order models(HOMs). Before HOMs can be used for group based statistical studies, algorithms for spatial normalization must be developed. We present a registration framework for images of fiber orientation distributions, a common HOM, which uses rotationally-invariant features of the FOD to drive a multi-channel diffeomorphic demons algorithm.