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Updated: Sep 15, 2025
Whole-brain Segmentation and Change-point Analysis of Anatomical Brain MRI—Application in Premanifest Huntington's Disease
Published on: June 9, 2018
Quantitative study of changes in the hippocampus after whole-brain radiotherapy via multisequence magnetic resonance
Rui Liu1, Guan-Zhong Gong2, Shan-Shan Du2
1Department of Graduate, Shandong First Medical University, Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan 250117, China; Department of Radiation Oncology Physics and Technology, Shandong Cancer Hospital and Institute, Shandong First Medical University and Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Ji Yan Road No.440, Jinan 250117, China.
Purpose:
Multisequence magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) radiomic features were used to analyze dynamic changes in the hippocampus after whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT), thus providing an objective basis for the early prediction of hippocampal radiation injury.
Methods:
Seventy-five patients with brain metastases (BMs) who received WBRT underwent MRI scanning (including T1-weighted imaging [T1WI], contrast-enhanced [CE]-T1WI, T2-weighted imaging [T2WI], T2-weighted Fluid-Attenuated Inversion Recovery imaging [T2 FLAIR] and diffusion weighted imaging [DWI]) before WBRT (MRIpre), after WBRT (MRIpost, 26.22 ± 13.05 days after the MRIpre scan), and at follow-up WBRT (MRIfollow, 393.45 ± 210.33 days after the MRIpost scan). Radiomics features were subsequently extracted from delineations of the hippocampus on the different sequences. Changes in the hippocampal volume and radiomics features of the sequences were analyzed in the MRIpost and MRIfollow sequences relative to the MRIpre sequences. The features were then organized as follows: (1) Group1 features included those features that were significantly different among MRIpre, MRIpost, and MRIfollow scans; and (2) Group2 features included those features that were significantly different between MRIpre and MRIfollow scans and between MRIpost and MRIfollow scans.
Results:
(1) The average MRIpost and MRIfollow hippocampal volumes were 3.32 ± 0.49 cm3 and 2.95±0.45 cm3, respectively, which were 1.68 % and 12.51% lower than the MRIpre volume (3.41 ± 0.49 cm3), respectively (p < 0.05). (2) Radiomics analysis revealed that 88 features were significantly different (p < 0.05) across the MRIpre, MRIpost, and MRIfollow scans. The T2WI sequence contained the greatest number of significant features (n = 42). Among Group1 features (n = 57), enrichment was observed in T2WI (n = 34) and T1WI (n = 22). The feature exhibiting the highest rate of change was GLCM-ClusterShade (range: 83.87-281.62 %). All 12 significant change features in CE-T1WI were observed in Group2. Although the overall timing difference for T2 FLAIR was not significant (p = 0.064), DWI contained a single Group2 feature (p = 0.032). Within Group2, GLCM-ClusterTendency exhibited the largest rate of change (range: 37.16-51.27 %).
Conclusions:
Compared with volume, multisequence MRI radiomics features more directly reflect dynamic microscopic hippocampal changes across MRIpre, MRIpost, and MRIfollow time points. T2WI and T1WI captured early sustained radiomics alterations, whereas CE-T1WI reflected delayed changes, thus serving as potential biomarkers for the monitoring of hippocampal dynamics following WBRT.
