Individualized Functionnectome for the detection of white matter circuits underlying task-fMRI activations in glioma patients

Motivation: The Functionnectome, a framework to project brain functional activity onto underlying white matter pathways, cannot accommodate patients with abnormal brain anatomy, as it is based on priors of structural connectivity derived from healthy subjects. Goal(s): Develop a method that generates subject-specific Functionnectome maps to more accurately reflect unique brain structure and function in patients. Approach: Twenty-six glioma patients underwent MRI, including diffusion and task-based functional protocols. Tractography was performed to generate individualized anatomical priors, and subsequently functionnectomes, which were validated for anatomical plausibility. Results: Individualized methods achieved higher accuracy and specificity than the standard Functionnectome framework, showing greater reproducibility across patients. Impact: The individualized Functionnectome framework applies the precision medicine paradigm to radiomics, by using brain connectivity maps conformant to each patient's unique anatomy, thereby ensuring accurate projection in cases with disrupted structures, e.g., due to tumors.