Inverse-consistent surface mapping with Laplace-Beltrami eigen-features.

We propose in this work a novel variational method for computing maps between surfaces by combining informative geometric features and regularizing forces including inverse consistency and harmonic energy. To tackle the ambiguity in defining homologous points on smooth surfaces, we design feature functions in the data term based on the Reeb graph of the Laplace-Beltrami eigenfunctions to quantitatively describe the global geometry of elongated anatomical structures. For inverse consistency and robustness, our method computes simultaneously the forward and backward map by iteratively solving partial differential equations (PDEs) on the surfaces. In our experiments, we successfully mapped 890 hippocampal surfaces and report statistically significant maps of atrophy rates between normal controls and patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD).