Computerized method for automated measurement of thickness of cerebral cortex for 3-D MR images

Hidetaka Arimura; Takashi Yoshiura; Seiji Kumazawa; Hiroshi Koga; Shuji Sakai; Futoshi Mihara; Hiroshi Honda; Masafumi Ohki; Fukai Toyofuku; Yoshiharu Higashida

doi:10.1117/12.652832

15 March 2006 Computerized method for automated measurement of thickness of cerebral cortex for 3-D MR images

Hidetaka Arimura, Takashi Yoshiura, Seiji Kumazawa, Hiroshi Koga, Shuji Sakai, Futoshi Mihara, Hiroshi Honda, Masafumi Ohki, Fukai Toyofuku, Yoshiharu Higashida

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 6144, Medical Imaging 2006: Image Processing; 61443V (2006) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.652832
Event: Medical Imaging, 2006, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is associated with the degeneration of cerebral cortex, which results in focal volume change or thinning in the cerebral cortex in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Therefore, the measurement of the cortical thickness is important for detection of the atrophy related to AD. Our purpose was to develop a computerized method for automated measurement of the cortical thickness for three-dimensional (3-D) MRI. The cortical thickness was measured with normal vectors from white matter surface to cortical gray matter surface on a voxel-by-voxel basis. First, a head region was segmented by use of an automatic thresholding technique, and then the head region was separated into the cranium region and brain region by means of a multiple gray level thresholding with monitoring the ratio of the first maximum volume to the second one. Next, a fine white matter region was determined based on a level set method as a seed region of the rough white matter region extracted from the brain region. Finally, the cortical thickness was measured by extending normal vectors from the white matter surface to gray matter surface (brain surface) on a voxel-by-voxel basis. We applied the computerized method to high-resolution 3-D T1-weighted images of the whole brains from 7 clinically diagnosed AD patients and 8 healthy subjects. The average cortical thicknesses in the upper slices for AD patients were thinner than those for non-AD subjects, whereas the average cortical thicknesses in the lower slices for most AD patients were slightly thinner. Our preliminary results suggest that the MRI-based computerized measurement of gray matter atrophy is promising for detecting AD.

Citation Download Citation

Hidetaka Arimura, Takashi Yoshiura, Seiji Kumazawa, Hiroshi Koga, Shuji Sakai, Futoshi Mihara, Hiroshi Honda, Masafumi Ohki, Fukai Toyofuku, and Yoshiharu Higashida "Computerized method for automated measurement of thickness of cerebral cortex for 3-D MR images", Proc. SPIE 6144, Medical Imaging 2006: Image Processing, 61443V (15 March 2006); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.652832

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available