Cerebral cortex thickness
estimation in
brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an important technical means for researching
brain development and neurodegenerative diseases in
neuroimaging. The invention provides a
cerebral cortex thickness
estimation algorithm based on a three-dimensional
Laplace operator, which can accurately capture geometrical morphological characteristics in brain nuclearmagnetic
resonance imaging. The method comprises the following steps: firstly, starting from the
elimination of a cross overlapping region generated on the surface of a gray matter layer and the surface of a
white matter layer, constructing a tetrahedral mesh which reflects the inherent geometrical characteristics of the brain and is matched with MRI; secondly, constructing a three-dimensional
Laplace operator by utilizing a geometric constraint relationship of a tetrahedral mesh, and calculating the distribution of a
cerebral cortex internal temperature field under a Diels boundary by utilizing a
finite element method; then, determining a local isothermal surface, obtaining the gradient line direction of the isothermal surface in the temperature field through a calculation geometry method, and a tetrahedral mesh unit where internal points on a gradient line are located is rapidly locked through a half-half surface data
storage structure; and finally obtaining the thickness characteristic information of the
cerebral cortex according to the direction and the step length of each gradient line by combining the set gradient step length. According to the method, the morphological structure detection capability of the cerebral cortex can be effectively improved by constructing a high-quality cerebral cortex tetrahedral mesh and determining a high-precision temperature field gradientline.