Combination of nonlinear registration methods with high resolution fMRI for a fine exploration of human primary motor hand area

Functional investigation of human hand representation in the motor area M1 requires high resolution functional imaging, to finely separate activation in M1, and a perfect alignment of individual central sulci to improve functional areas overlap and significance of statistical parametric maps obtained from different hand movements. Based on anatomical measures, we show how recent global diffeomorphic registration techniques impact positively on the alignment of sulcal folds in M1 area. With functional measures, we evaluate their effect on the robust detection and localization of group brain activation for flexion/extension of right and left thumbs/fingers and wrists. The methodology we propose opens the way to a non invasive functional exploration of the human hand motor cortex at the group level under different normal, pathological or after rehabilitative conditions. © 2011 IEEE.