DTI Tractography Challenge Guidelines

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Anatomical definition of the corticospinal tract

The corticospinal tract is a collection of axons that arise from the cerebral cortex and course through the internal capsule, the cerebral peduncle of the midbrain, the ventral pons, the ventral surface of the medulla, the pyramidal decusssation, and terminate in the spinal cord.

Tumor Segmentation

In each clinical case, the tumor has been segmented using the method [ add ref]. The file patient_xxx-tumor.nhdr & raw is labelmap which contains the segmented structures. Each label map contains two labels: label #1 represents the solid part of the tumor; label #2 represents the cystic part of the tumor.

Submitted Results: File format and naming convention

For each case, the results should be submitted in the following formats: 1) 3D coordinate of the tracts: vtkPolydata ASCII VTK file format; 2) enveloppe of the tracts: ITK-readable Nrrd file format
Naming convention:

• zip archive file: miccaiDTIChallenge_firstAuthorName.zip
• VTK file: firstAuthorName_tract_coordinate.vtk
• Nrrd file: firstAuthorName_tract_enveloppe.nhdr and firstAuthorName_tract_enveloppe.nhdr
• PNG file: firstAuthorName_tract_axialView.png; firstAuthorName_tract_sagittalView.png; firstAuthorName_tract_coronalView.png

Evaluation

The evaluation of the tractography results will be based on the following qualitative and quantitative criteria:

• Qualitative Assessment

Evaluation of tract reconstruction in each hemisphere, for patients and controls

1. Anatomical correctness of the tract
2. Presence of false-positive tracts
3. Presence of false-negative tracts

Evaluation of the depiction of the spatial relationship between the tumor and the tract, in patient cases

1. Depiction of the relation between the tract and the tumor
2. Demonstration of tract displacement
3. Demonstration of tumor infiltration

• Quantitative Assessment

Evaluation of tract reconstruction in each hemisphere, for patients and controls

1. Dice coefficient for volumetric overlap
2. Closest point distance between bundles
3. Fiber profiles on Fractional Anisotropy (FA)
4. Fiber profiles of Mean Diffusivity (MD)
5. STAPLE sensitivity and specificity score