Current state-of-the-art methods for visualization and segmentation of thalamic nuclei are lagging behind. We are a group of international researchers with diverse backgrounds (neuroimaging, neuroscience, neuroradiology..) with a common aim to address this challenging and critical problem of accurate and fast segmentation of thalamic nuclei as well as validation and application of these methods in basic neuroscience and clinical applications. The international Thalamic Nuclei Neuroimaging Group recently convened an e-symposium on the role of the different thalamic nuclei and their segmentation in neuroimaging studies. This symposium has highlighted that there are currently no guidelines for the neuroimaging of the thalamus, leading to results that may be difficult to reconcile.
Besides fostering collaborations, our vision is for 3 or 4 subgroups focused on neuro-anatomy, imaging, image processing, and applications to evolve
organically out of this symposium and subsequent meetings.
We also hope to put out position papers, share standardized data sets with manual labels, and disseminate new cutting edge methods for thalamic segmentation,
and meet in person, of course, in the near future !
This group has identified current and future challenges and recommended future directions which include:
