Construction and Validation of Brain MRI Templates from a Korean Normal Elderly Population

Objective This study aimed to construct a Korean normal elderly brain template (KNE96) using Korean elderly individuals for use in brain MRI studies and to validate it. Methods We used high-resolution 3.0T T1 structural MR images from 96 Korean normal elderly individuals (M/F=48/48), aged 60 years or older (M=69.5 +/- 6.2 years, F=70.1 +/- 7.0 years), for constructing the KNE96 template. The KNE96 template was validated by comparing the registration-induced deformations between the KNE96 and ICBM152 templates using different MR images from 48 Korean normal elderly individuals (M/F=24/24), aged 60 years or older (M=71.5 +/- 5.9 years, F=72.8 +/- 5.1 years). We used the magnitude of displacement vectors (mag-displacement) and log of Jacobian determinants (log-Jacobian) to quantify the deformation produced during registration process to templates. Results The mag-displacement and log-Jacobian of the registration were much smaller using the KNE96 template than with the ICBM152 template in most brain regions. There was a prominent difference in the significant averaged differences (SADs) of the magdisplacement and log-Jacobian between the KNE96 and ICBM152 at the superior, medial, and middle frontal gyrus, the lingual, inferior, middle, and superior occipital gyrus, and the caudate and thalamus. Conclusion This study suggests that templates constructed from Asian populations, such as the KNE96, may be more desirable than those from Caucasian populations, like the ICBM152, in computational neuroimaging studies that measure and compare anatomical features of the frontal and occipital lobe, thalamus and caudate.