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A new rapid landmark-based regional MRI segmentation method of the brain
A L W Bokde1, S J Teipel, Y Zebuhr
1Dementia and Neuroimaging Section, Department of Psychiatry, Ludwig-Maximilian University, Nussbaumstr. 7, 80336, Munich, Germany.
Background:
Neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular diseases show a distinct distribution of regional atrophy and subcortical lesions.
Objective:
To develop an easily applicable landmark-based method for segmentation of the brain into the four cerebral lobes from MRI images.
Method:
The segmentation method relies on a combination of anatomical landmarks and geometrical definitions. It is applied on the surface reconstruction of the MRI volume. The internal borders between the lobes are defined on the axial slices of the brain. The reliability of this method was determined from MRI scans of 10 subjects. To illustrate the use of the method, it was applied to MRI scans of an independent group of 10 healthy elderly subjects and 10 patients with vascular dementia to determine the regional distribution of white matter hyperintensities (WMH).
Results:
The intra-rater relative error (and intra-class correlation coefficient) of the lobe segmentation ranged from 1.6% to 6.9% (from 0.91 to 0.99). The inter-rater relative error (and intra-class correlation coefficient) ranged from 1.4% to 5.2% (from 0.96 to 0.99). Density of WMH was significantly higher in all four lobes in VD patients compared to controls (p<0.05). Within each group, WMH density was significantly higher in frontal and parietal than in temporal and occipital lobes (p<0.05).
Conclusion:
This landmark based method can accommodate age and disease-related changes in brain morphology. It may be particularly useful for the study of neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular disease and for the validation of template-based automated techniques.
Insights
A new landmark-based brain MRI segmentation method accurately divides the brain into four lobes. This technique aids in studying neurodegenerative diseases and validating automated brain analysis tools.
Area of Science:
- Neuroimaging
- Medical Image Analysis
- Brain Anatomy
Background:
- Neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular diseases exhibit characteristic patterns of regional brain atrophy and subcortical lesions.
- Accurate brain segmentation is crucial for understanding disease-specific morphological changes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a straightforward, landmark-based method for segmenting the brain into four cerebral lobes using MRI images.
- To assess the reliability and applicability of this novel segmentation technique.
Main Methods:
- The method utilizes anatomical landmarks and geometrical definitions applied to surface reconstructions of MRI volumes.
- Internal lobe borders are defined on axial brain slices.
- Reliability was tested on 10 subjects, and the method was applied to 20 subjects (10 healthy, 10 with vascular dementia) to analyze white matter hyperintensities (WMH).
Main Results:
- High intra-rater (0.91-0.99) and inter-rater (0.96-0.99) reliability was achieved for lobe segmentation.
- Vascular dementia patients showed significantly higher WMH density in all lobes compared to controls.
- WMH density was consistently higher in frontal and parietal lobes across both groups.
Conclusions:
- The developed landmark-based method is robust to age- and disease-related brain morphology changes.
- This technique is valuable for studying neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular diseases.
- It serves as a useful tool for validating automated, template-based segmentation methods.