Quasi-isometric length parameterization of cortical sulci: Application to handedness and the central sulcus morphology

We present in this paper a method to perform a length parameterization of cortical sulcus meshes. Such parameterization allows morphological features to be localized in a normalized way along the length of the sulcus and can be used to perform population studies and group comparisons. Our method uses the second eigenfunction of the Laplace-Beltrami operator, and the resulting parameterization is quasi-isometric. The process is validated on the central sulci of a set of subjects and its efficiency is demonstrated by quantifying morphological differences between left and right-handed subjects.