[FieldTrip] question about coregistration

Nicola Molinaro n.molinaro at bcbl.eu
Wed Nov 6 11:52:19 CET 2013


Thanks guys for any possible help. Really appreciate it!

I will summarize my tests:

1. reading the COR-<filename>.fif produced by MRIlab with ft_read_mri

Well, it seems that ft_read_mri reads the original (not coregistered) .fif
file produced in earlier steps of the forward model calculation (COR.fif).
For example, if I delete the COR.fif file, ft_read_mri gives an error.
ft_read_mri applied to the COR-<filename>.fif should be able to read some
header, and for this reason I tried the option suggested by Joram
(including ft_volumereslice). However, when I plot the volume head model
with

*hs=ft_read_headshape(<meg_raw_filename>.fif. 'unit','mm'); %get headshape
points*
*ft_plot_vol(vol)*
*ft_plot_headshape(hs)*

There is an evident misalignment between isotrack points and the brain
volume. I mean NO coregistration is done. you can also appreciate it when
plotting a prearicular instead of the nasion with

*cfg = [];*
*cfg.location = [66.4 0 0];          %%% fill in a fiducial point from the
current subject by hand, to check if coregistration went correctly*
*cfg.locationcoordinates = 'head';*
*ft_sourceplot(cfg,mri);*

Take home message: Fieldtrip does not read the coregistration done in
MRIlab, and you have to coregister MEG and MRI again.

2. Using

cfg.method = 'headshape'
cfg.headshape = 'XXX.pos'

for ft_volumerealign. I played with it, but in neuromag the polhemous data
are within the header of the *<meg_raw_filename>.fif* file. You can export
the isotrack point however from MRIlab. After importing then with

File>Import>Isotrack data

you can then export them with

File>Export>Points

and specifying the coordinate system in which you want your point (either
Head, or MRI or Voxel). This file cannot be read by ft_volumerealign with
the headshape method. However, the first three lines of the resulting .txt
file will give you the nasion and the two pre-auricolar points positions. I
tried importing the voxel positions of the three points in ft_volumerealign
using the method

cfg.coordsys       = 'neuromag';
cfg.method         = 'fiducial';

And it worked, the brain volume is aligned with the isotrack points. This
is the only solution that is visually reliable to perform


On Wed, Nov 6, 2013 at 10:06 AM, Joram van Driel <joramvandriel at gmail.com>wrote:

> Hi Nicola,
>
> I also did coregistration in MRI-lab using isotrak data.
> Importing the fif files in fieldtrip worked fine, I don’t think you have
> to apply ft_volumerealign again. I suspect ft_volumereslice is a crucial
> ingredient.
> This worked for me:
>
>     mri = ft_read_mri(<mri.fif>);            %%% read the MRI; the fif
> file is in mm but FT changes it into meters
>     mri = ft_convert_units(mri,'mm');        %%% make it mm as it
> originally was
>     mri = ft_volumereslice([], mri);         %%% after this function the
> ficual points in the MEG header match the coordinates in the MRI
>
> Then you should indeed check this with ft_sourceplot, where in the cfg you
> can fill in fiducial points to check if they make sense, e.g.:
>
>     cfg = [];
>     cfg.location = [0 90.5 0];          %%% fill in a fiducial point from
> the current subject by hand, to check if coregistration went correctly
>     cfg.locationcoordinates = 'head';
>
>     ft_sourceplot(cfg,mri);
>
> Hope this helps.
> Best,
> Joram
>
> On 05 Nov 2013, at 09:43, jan-mathijs schoffelen <
> jan.schoffelen at donders.ru.nl> wrote:
>
> Dear Nicola,
>
> I am forwarding your question to the list, "ter lering ende vermaak":
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> *From: *Nicola Molinaro <nicolaml at gmail.com>
> *Date: *November 4, 2013 2:16:20 PM GMT+01:00
> *To: *jan-mathijs schoffelen <jan.schoffelen at donders.ru.nl>
> *Subject: **mm -> voxels ??*
>
> Hi Jan,
> I am trying to align the T1 images with isotrak data using MRIlab and then
> import the coregistrated image to fieldtrip. Comparing the headshape points
> with the volume, we can see that Fieldtrip is not taking into account the
> coregistration. Thus, we are trying to do the corregistration applying the
> ft_volumerealign function with the method='fiducial' in Fieldtrip.  I have
> the information of the landmarks' position obtained with MRIlab in 'mm' and
> the function ft_volumerealign need them in voxel index. How can you convert
> that?
> I don´t know if you ever used MRIlab to obtain this information or another
> software (MNE?).
>
>
> Thanks
>
> Nicola
>
>
>
> Indeed I have never used MRIlab for coregistration purposes, so I may not
> be of much help here. However, I suspect that the coregistration procedure
> in MRIlab allows you to export your MRI after coregistration, thus creating
> an file with an anatomical image in register with what you want to achieve.
> If this is the case, then I don't think that you need FieldTrip to
> coregister again. I am therefore a bit confused with respect to your remark
> that 'FieldTrip is not taking into account the coregistration'. If you read
> in an MRI into FieldTrip, the resulting MRI-structure will contain a
> transform field, that provides the mapping from voxel space into a more
> meaningful coordinate system. FieldTrip will not 'guess' the nature of this
> coordinate system: it just takes the values as they are in the file. Once
> you have read in your MRI, you can use the ft_sourceplot function for
> visualization. With cfg.method = 'ortho', the figure will also display the
> coordinates that you click on (both in voxel indices and in real world
> coordinates). Now, do you mean by 'FieldTrip does not take into account the
> coregistration' that these real world coordinates are not as expected?
> To answer your question regarding the conversion of landmark positions in
> 'mm' back into voxel indices: this requires information from the
> mri.transform matrix, but this implies that the mri is already in register,
> so there would be no need anymore to call ft_volumerealign.
> Either way, you could also do the coregistration entirely in FieldTrip.
> This requires a two-step approach, calling ft_volumerealign twice (starting
> from the raw DICOM files, i.e. prior to having used MRIlab). In the first
> step you will use cfg.interactive = 'yes' and identify the fiducials that
> define your corodinate system. Assuming that you are working with your MEG
> data acquired at BCBL, you should also specify cfg.coordsys = 'neuromag').
> The output to this funcion call is an MRI structure that is approximately
> in register with the MEG-device. In the next step you can refine this
> coregistration by calling ft_volumerealign (with the approximately
> registered MRI in the input, and) with cfg.method = 'headshape', and
> cfg.headshape = 'XXX.pos' (the filename of your polhemus file). This should
> result (providing that the isotrak data can be read ;-) ) in an interactive
> figure, that allows you to further align the MRI with the polhemus point
> cloud that describes the headshape. Once you are happy enough, the figure
> can be closed, and an iterative-closest-point algorithm is applied for
> further refinement of the coregistration.
> I hope this helps, and might inspire you to try out the coregistration in
> FieldTrip (and give feedback to us about it, in order to make the procedure
> more robust).
>
> Best wishes,
>
>
> Jan-Mathijs Schoffelen, MD PhD
>
> Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour,
> Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging,
> Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands
>
> Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics,
> Nijmegen, The Netherlands
>
> J.Schoffelen at donders.ru.nl
> Telephone: +31-24-3614793
>
> http://www.hettaligebrein.nl
>
> _______________________________________________
> fieldtrip mailing list
> fieldtrip at donders.ru.nl
> http://mailman.science.ru.nl/mailman/listinfo/fieldtrip
>
>
>


-- 

------------------------------
Nicola Molinaro, Phd
Staff Scientist
www.bcbl.eu

Legal disclaimer/Aviso legal/Lege-oharra: www.bcbl.eu/legal-disclaimer
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