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Three-dimensional textural analysis of brain images reveals distributed grey-matter abnormalities in schizophrenia

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Abstract

Objectives

Three-dimensional (3-D) selective- and relative-scale texture analysis (TA) was applied to structural magnetic resonance (MR) brain images to quantify the presence of grey-matter (GM) and white-matter (WM) textural abnormalities associated with schizophrenia.

Materials and methods

Brain TA comprised volume filtration using the Laplacian of Gaussian filter to highlight fine, medium and coarse textures within GM and WM, followed by texture quantification. Relative TA (e.g. ratio of fine to medium) was also computed. T1-weighted MR whole-brain images from 32 participants with diagnosis of schizophrenia (n = 10) and healthy controls (n = 22) were examined. Five patients possessed marker alleles (SZ8) associated with schizophrenia on chromosome 8 in the pericentriolar material 1 gene while the remaining five had not inherited any of the alleles (SZ0).

Results

Filtered fine GM texture (mean grey-level intensity; MGI) most significantly differentiated schizophrenic patients from controls (P = 0.0058; area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve = 0.809, sensitivity = 90%, specificity = 70%). WM measurements did not distinguish the two groups. Filtered GM and WM textures (MGI) correlated with total GM and WM volume respectively. Medium-to-coarse GM entropy distinguished SZ0 from controls (P = 0.0069) while measures from SZ8 were intermediate between the two.

Conclusions

3-D TA of brain MR enables detection of subtle distributed morphological features associated with schizophrenia, determined partly by susceptibility genes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinical Imaging Sciences Centre, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9RR, UK

    Balaji Ganeshan, Kenneth A. Miles & Hugo D. Critchley

  2. Department of Engineering and Design, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9QT, UK

    Balaji Ganeshan, Rupert C. D. Young & Christopher R. Chatwin

  3. Department of Mental Health Sciences, University College London, London, UK

    Hugh M. D. Gurling

Authors
  1. Balaji Ganeshan
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  2. Kenneth A. Miles
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  3. Rupert C. D. Young
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  4. Christopher R. Chatwin
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  5. Hugh M. D. Gurling
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  6. Hugo D. Critchley
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Correspondence to Balaji Ganeshan.

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Ganeshan, B., Miles, K.A., Young, R.C.D. et al. Three-dimensional textural analysis of brain images reveals distributed grey-matter abnormalities in schizophrenia. Eur Radiol 20, 941–948 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-009-1605-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-009-1605-1

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