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Automated Segmentation of Cortical Grey Matter from T1-Weighted MRI Images
Published on: January 7, 2019
How Reliable Are Volumetric Techniques for High-Grade Gliomas? A Comparison Study of Different Available Tools
Pietro Zeppa1, Luca Neitzert1, Marco Mammi1
1Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Università degli Studi di Torino, Turin, Italy.
Background:
Gliomas are the most common malignant primary brain tumors. Assessment of the tumor volume represents a crucial point in preoperative and postoperative evaluation.
Objective:
To compare pre- and postoperative tumor volumes obtained with an automated, semi-automatic, and manual segmentation tool. Mean processing time of each segmentation techniques was measured.
Methods:
Manual segmentation was performed on preoperative and postoperative magnetic resonance images with the open-source software Horos (Horos Project). "SmartBrush," a tool of the IPlan Cranial software (Brainlab, Feldkirchen, Germany), was used to carry out the semi-automatic segmentation. The open-source BraTumIA software (NeuroImaging Tools and Resources Collaboratory) was employed for the automated segmentation. Pearson correlation coefficient was used to assess volumetric comparison. Subsequently deviation/range and average discrepancy were determined. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to assess statistical significance.
Results:
A total of 58 patients with a newly diagnosed high-grade glioma were enrolled. The comparison of the volumes calculated with Horos and IPlan showed a strong agreement both on preoperative and postoperative images (respectively: "enhancing" ρ = 0.99-0.78, "fluid-attenuated inversion recovery" ρ = 0.97-0.92, and "total tumor volume" ρ = 0.98-0.95). Agreement between BraTumIA and the other 2 techniques appeared to be strong for preoperative images, but showed a higher disagreement on postoperative images. Mean time expenditure for tumor segmentation was 27 min with manual segmentation, 17 min with semi-automated, and 8 min with automated software.
Conclusion:
The considered segmentation tools showed high agreement in preoperative volumetric assessment. Both manual and semi-automated software appear adequate for the postoperative quantification of residual volume. The evaluated automated software is not yet reliable. Automated software considerably reduces the time expenditure.
