LOFA: Software for individualized localization of functional MRI activity

Although PET, SPECT, and fMRI studies have led to significant advances in f unctional mapping of the human brain, precise localization and quantificati on of activity in individual brains require additional procedures. Difficul ties to be addressed by a localization strategy are: resolution of individu al anatomic differences, differentiation of functional activity in closely juxtaposed brain regions, and management of multiple intricately shaped 3D anatomic structures. In this paper, we describe a localization tool, LOFA, which addresses these problems by forming ROIs with a user-driven interface . Using LOFA, complex 3D anatomy can be defined through open or closed loop s and anatomic landmarks. Resulting partitions can be overlaid on top of ea ch other to form multiple regions of interest (ROIs), and functional activi ty in these ROI can be extracted individually, one after the other. LOFA in troduces important paradigmatic advances over the other ROI analysis method s. The toolbox is interactive, fully compatible with AFNI (MCW), and requir es Pv-Wave (VNI Inc.) license to run. (C) 1999 Academic Press.