Faculty Bibliography

Neuroanatomical and histological findings from post-mortem brains, as well as in vivo findings from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies, suggest the presence of morphologic temporal lobe abnormalities in schizophrenia. To determine whether or not sulco-gyral pattern abnormalities in the temporal lobe could be detected in vivo, we applied computerized surface rendering techniques to MR data sets in order to make both qualitative and quantitative analyses of three-dimensional reconstructions of the temporal and frontal cortex in 15 schizophrenic patients and 15 normal controls. The qualitative analysis, based on a visual classification of the temporal lobe sulco-gyral pattern by 4 raters blind to diagnosis, showed that in schizophrenics there was a more vertical orientation to the sulci in the left temporal lobe, with an interrupted course of sulci due to gyri coursing across the sulci. Normal controls, in contrast, showed a more horizontal orientation with no interruptions. These findings were supported by the quantitative analysis, where more sulcal lines, representing an interrupted course of sulci, were observed in the temporal lobes (more pronounced on the left) in schizophrenics than in normal controls. These data suggest that some of the abnormalities observed in schizophrenia may have their origin in alterations occurring during the course of neurodevelopment when the sulco-gyral pattern is determined.

Multimedia lives with images; medical images are born from digital imaging. A physician's multimedia workstation cannot exist without tools for manipulating images, performing measurements and, generally speaking, extracting and collecting pieces of information from the available data. Image analysis and computer vision constitute a wide and rapidly evolving field. This paper is intended as an introductory document for medical imaging researchers and practitioners wishing an overview of recent developments and trends. The major lines of activities in the domain are presented, under the common framework of a processing pipeline. After a presentation of the various stages of this pipeline, current subjects of research are indicated.