Sulcus Extraction Based on MRI Images

The cortical folding of the brain refers to the highly convoluted folds formed during the developmental process of the brain cortex. These folds consist of depressed regions known as sulci and elevated regions called gyri. These sulci and gyri exhibit substantial individual variability while displaying a predominantly symmetric distribution across the left and right hemispheres, providing a certain regularity to the overall brain structure. Therefore, the accurate extraction of sulci becomes a crucial step in the study of the cortical surface of the brain. The sulcal pits, being the locally deepest and earliest-formed regions of the sulci, maintain their characteristics throughout development, demonstrating stability. In this study, we introduce a sulci extraction algorithm that utilizes the watershed algorithm combined with the adaptive thresholding method for extracting sulcal pits on the white matter mesh of the left and right hemispheres of the brain. Through merging operations to eliminate noisy sulcal pits, the algorithm achieves the extraction of shallower sulci in regions such as the inferior frontal sulcus, central sulcus, intraparietal sulcus, superior temporal sulcus, inferior temporal sulcus, lateral occipital sulcus, cingulate sulcus, subparietal sulcus and so on. The more precise extraction results of sulci contribute to an enhanced understanding of the brain's structure and function, providing more accurate and detailed information for neuroscience, medical research, and clinical applications, thereby propelling advancements in related fields.