Human Cerebellum: Surface-assisted Cortical Parcellation and Volumetry with Magnetic Resonance Imaging

We describe a system of surface-assisted parcellation (SAP) of the human cerebellar cortex derived from neural systems functional and behavioral anatomy. This system is based on MRI and preserves the unique morphologic and topographic features of the individual cerebellum. All major fissures of the cerebellum were identified and traced in the flattened representation of the cerebellar cortex using the program "FreeSurfer." Parcellation of the cerebellar cortex followed using the fissure information in conjunction with landmarks using the program "Cardviews" to create 64 gyral-based cerebellar parcellation units. Computer-assisted algorithms enable the execution of the cerebellar parcellation procedure as well as volumetric measurements and topographic localization. The SAP technique makes it possible to represent multimodal structural and functional imaging data on the flattened surface of the cerebellar cortex as illustrated in one functional MRI experiment.