Visualising and Segmenting the Thalamic Reticular Nucleus at 7T

Motivation: The in-vivo study of the Thalamic Reticular Nucleus is of fundamental interest and relies on the development of a pipeline for visualising and segmenting the structure. Goal(s): Presented is a a potential framework for inducing contrast at the TRN boundary that can guide future studies in creating functional maps of the TRN. Approach: T1 weighted FLASH and susceptibility weighted imaging paradigms are explored in a number of participants and a novel segmentation approach is tested on these data sets. Results: The TRN is visible to a variable degree in all participants and size stable masks of the structure are produced. Impact: This work is a stepping stone in the creation of a robust framework for visualising and segmenting the Thalamic Reticular Nucleus. It can help guide future studies which seek to explore the TRN function in-vivo.