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Tumor burden evaluation in NF1 patients with plexiform neurofibromas in daily clinical practice

  • Clinical Article - Pediatrics
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Acta Neurochirurgica Aims and scope Submit manuscript

An Erratum to this article was published on 12 April 2015

Abstract

Background

Existing volumetric measurements of plexiform neurofibromas (PNs) are time consuming and error prone, as they require delineation of PN boundaries, a procedure that is not practical in the typical clinical setting. The aim of this study is to assess the Plexiform Neurofibroma Instant Segmentation Tool (PNist), a novel semi-automated segmentation program that we developed for PN delineation in a clinical context. PNist was designed to greatly simplify volumetric assessment of PNs through use of an intuitive user interface while providing objectively consistent results with minimal interobserver and intraobserver variabilities in reasonable time.

Materials and methods

PNs were measured in 30 magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans from 12 patients with neurofibromatosis 1. Volumetric measurements were performed using PNist and compared to a standard semi-automated volumetric method (Analyze 9.0).

Results

High correlation was detected between PNist and the semi-automated method (R 2 = 0.996), with a mean volume overlap error of 9.54 % and low intraobserver and interobserver variabilities. The segmentation time required for PNist was 60 % of the time required for Analyze 9.0 (360 versus 900 s, respectively). PNist was also reliable when assessing changes in tumor size over time, compared to the existing commercial method.

Conclusions

Our study suggests that the new PNist method is accurate, intuitive, and less time consuming for PN segmentation compared to existing commercial volumetric methods. The workflow is simple and user-friendly, making it an important clinical tool to be used by radiologists, neurologists and neurosurgeons on a daily basis, helping them deal with the complex task of evaluating PN burden and progression.

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Conflicts of interest

None of the authors has any conflict of interest and/or commercial stake in the evaluated software.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Imaging Division, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, 6 Weizmann Street, Tel Aviv, 64239, Israel

    L. Pratt & L. Ben-Sira

  2. School of Engineering and Computer Science, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

    D. Helfer, L. Weizman & L. Joskowicz

  3. Department of Pediatric Neurosurgery, and the Gilbert International Neurofibromatosis Center, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel

    B. Shofty & S. Constantini

  4. Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    S. Constantini, D. Ben Bashat & L. Ben-Sira

  5. Functional Brain Center, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel

    D. Ben Bashat

Authors
  1. L. Pratt
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  2. D. Helfer
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  3. L. Weizman
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  4. B. Shofty
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  5. S. Constantini
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  6. L. Joskowicz
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  7. D. Ben Bashat
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  8. L. Ben-Sira
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to L. Pratt.

Additional information

Presentation at a conference:

L. Pratt, D. Helfer, L. Weizman, B. Shofty, S. Constantini, L. Joskowicz, D. Ben Bashat, L. Ben-Sira. "PNist”: a novel semi-automated volumetric method for easy segmentation of plexiform neurofibromas—a practical tool for the clinicians. Poster presentation at EANS 2013, 11–14 November 2013, Tel-Aviv, Israel

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Pratt, L., Helfer, D., Weizman, L. et al. Tumor burden evaluation in NF1 patients with plexiform neurofibromas in daily clinical practice. Acta Neurochir 157, 855–861 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00701-015-2366-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00701-015-2366-z

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