Cluster analysis of dynamic cerebral contrast-enhanced perfusion MRI time-series

Abstract

We performed neural network clustering on dynamic contrast-enhanced perfusion magnetic resonance imaging time-series in patients with and without stroke. Minimal-free-energy vector quantization, self-organizing maps, and fuzzy c-means clustering enabled self-organized data-driven segmentation with respect to fine-grained differences of signal amplitude and dynamics, thus identifying asymmetries and local abnormalities of brain perfusion. We conclude that clustering is a useful extension to conventional perfusion parameter maps.