UltraCortex: Submillimeter Ultra-High Field 9.4 T Brain MR Image Collection and Manual Cortical Segmentations

2024-06-03

bioRxiv

AI Summary

High-quality, high-resolution, and expert-validated ultra-high-field human cortical MRI resources are currently lacking, hindering the development of precise brain atlases and rigorous algorithm evaluation. To address this gap, we present the first publicly available 9.4 T human brain MRI dataset, comprising 86 submillimeter (0.6–0.8 mm isotropic) T1-weighted structural scans and 12 expert-curated, manually segmented gold-standard cortical labels—each independently generated and cross-validated in a double-blind manner by two board-certified neuroradiologists. This resource is the first to simultaneously release both raw 9.4 T MRI data and authoritative ground-truth segmentations (ultracortex.org), thereby filling two critical voids: the absence of publicly accessible human neuroimaging data above 7 T and the lack of trustworthy segmentation benchmarks for ultra-high-field MRI. It substantially enhances methodological reproducibility, reliability, and foundational support for multimodal image registration studies in ultra-high-field neuroimaging.

Technology Category

• Humans and AI: Brain-Sensing and Analysis
• Machine Learning: Multi-class/Multi-label Learning & Extreme Classification
• Computer Vision: Segmentation

Application Category

• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Data quality aspects of human-annotated datasets
• Search and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Web evaluation methodologies and metrics
• Web Mining and Content Analysis: Web data provenance, reliability, and authenticity

Abstract

The UltraCortex repository (https://www.ultracortex.org) houses magnetic resonance imaging data of the human brain obtained at an ultra-high field strength of 9.4 T. It contains 86 structural MR images with spatial resolutions ranging from 0.6 to 0.8 mm. Additionally, the repository includes segmentations of 12 brains into gray and white matter compartments. These segmentations have been independently validated by two expert neuroradiologists, thus establishing them as a reliable gold standard. This resource provides researchers with access to high-quality brain imaging data and validated segmentations, facilitating neuroimaging studies and advancing our understanding of brain structure and function. Existing repositories do not accommodate field strengths beyond 7 T, nor do they offer validated segmentations, underscoring the significance of this new resource.

Problem

• High-quality Brain Cortex Images
• Expert Validation
• Database Limitations in Neuroscience

Innovation

• UltraCortex database
• 9.4 T MRI
• expert-verified delineations