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Comparison of automated brain volumetry methods with stereology in children aged 2 to 3 years

  • Paediatric Neuroradiology
  • Published:
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Abstract

Introduction

The accurate and precise measurement of brain volumes in young children is important for early identification of children with reduced brain volumes and an increased risk for neurodevelopmental impairment. Brain volumes can be measured from cerebral MRI (cMRI), but most neuroimaging tools used for cerebral segmentation and volumetry were developed for use in adults and have not been validated in infants or young children. Here, we investigate the feasibility and accuracy of three automated software methods (i.e., SPM, FSL, and FreeSurfer) for brain volumetry in young children and compare the measures with corresponding volumes obtained using the Cavalieri method of modern design stereology.

Methods

Cerebral MRI data were collected from 21 children with a complex congenital heart disease (CHD) before Fontan procedure, at a median age of 27 months (range 20.9–42.4 months). Data were segmented with SPM, FSL, and FreeSurfer, and total intracranial volume (ICV) and total brain volume (TBV) were compared with corresponding measures obtained using the Cavalieri method.

Results

Agreement between the estimated brain volumes (ICV and TBV) relative to the gold standard stereological volumes was strongest for FreeSurfer (p < 0.001) and moderate for SPM segment (ICV p = 0.05; TBV p = 0.006). No significant association was evident between ICV and TBV obtained using SPM NewSegment and FSL FAST and the corresponding stereological volumes.

Conclusions

FreeSurfer provides an accurate method for measuring brain volumes in young children, even in the presence of structural brain abnormalities.

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Abbreviations

AUC:

Area under the curve

BET:

Brain extraction tool

CE:

Coefficient of error

CHD:

Congenital heart disease

cMRI:

Cerebral magnetic resonance imaging

CSF:

Cerebrospinal fluid

ICV:

Intracranial volume

FAST:

FSL segmentation tool

FSL:

FMRIB Software Library v5.0

GM:

Gray matter

HLHS:

Hypoplastic left-heart syndrome

HLHC:

Hypoplastic left-heart complex

MNI:

Montreal Neurological Institute

MP-RAGE:

Magnetization prepared rapid acquisition gradient echo

MRI:

Magnetic resonance imaging

SPGR:

Spoiled gradient echo

SPM8:

Statistical Parametric Mapping version 8

TBV:

Total brain volume

UVH:

Univentricular hypoplasia

WM:

White matter

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the kind assistance of Kaiming Yin in preparing Figure 1, and to thank all study participants and their families. Special thanks go to the MRI staff, the anaesthesiologists and the technical support during data acquisition: Ali Rad, Hadwig Speckbacher, Leila Thalparpan-Pajunen, Martina Boller, Agata Aquino, Steffen Bollmann, Carmen Ghisleni, Ursina McCaskey and Gabriela Staub. Grant support provided by Fördergemeinschaft Deutsche Kinderherzzentren e.V., Bonn, Germany, and the Mäxi Foundation, Zurich, Switzerland. 

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for MR Research, University Children’s Hospital of Zurich, Steinwiesstrasse 75, 8032, Zurich, Switzerland

    Kristina N. Mayer & Ruth O’Gorman Tuura

  2. Pediatric Cardiology, University Children’s Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland

    Kristina N. Mayer & Walter Knirsch

  3. Child Development Center, University Children’s Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland

    Beatrice Latal & Michael von Rhein

  4. Children’s Research Center, University Children’s Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland

    Beatrice Latal, Walter Knirsch & Ruth O’Gorman Tuura

  5. Department for Diagnostic Neuroradiology, University Children’s Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland

    Ianina Scheer

  6. Pediatric Heart Center, University Hospital Giessen, Justus-Liebig University, Giessen, Germany

    Bettina Reich, Jürgen Bauer & Kerstin Gummel

  7. Clinical Research and Imaging Centre (CRIC), The Queens Medical Research Institute (QMRI), University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    Neil Roberts

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  1. Kristina N. Mayer
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ruth O’Gorman Tuura.

Ethics declarations

We declare that all human studies have been approved by the local ethics committees of the Canton of Zurich and the University of Giessen, respectively, and have therefore been performed in accordance with the ethical standards laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments. We declare that all patients gave informed consent prior to inclusion in this study.

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We declare that we have no conflict of interest.

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Mayer, K.N., Latal, B., Knirsch, W. et al. Comparison of automated brain volumetry methods with stereology in children aged 2 to 3 years. Neuroradiology 58, 901–910 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00234-016-1714-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00234-016-1714-x

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