Rapid semi-automatic segmentation of the spinal cord from magnetic resonance images: Application in multiple sclerosis

A new semi-automatic method for segmenting the spinal cord from MR images is presented. The method is based on an active surface (AS) model of the cord surface, with intrinsic smoothness constraints. The model is initialized by the user marking the approximate cord center-line on a few representativ...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:NeuroImage (Orlando, Fla.) Vol. 50; no. 2; pp. 446 - 455
Main Authors: Horsfield, Mark A., Sala, Stefania, Neema, Mohit, Absinta, Martina, Bakshi, Anshika, Sormani, Maria Pia, Rocca, Maria A., Bakshi, Rohit, Filippi, Massimo
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.04.2010
Elsevier Limited
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Algorithms
Atrophy - pathology
Female
Humans
Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted - methods
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Methods
Middle Aged
Multiple sclerosis
Multiple Sclerosis - pathology
NMR
Nuclear magnetic resonance
Reproducibility of Results
Spinal cord
Spinal Cord - pathology
ISSN:1053-8119, 1095-9572, 1095-9572
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:A new semi-automatic method for segmenting the spinal cord from MR images is presented. The method is based on an active surface (AS) model of the cord surface, with intrinsic smoothness constraints. The model is initialized by the user marking the approximate cord center-line on a few representative slices, and the compact surface parametrization results in a rapid segmentation, taking on the order of 1 min. Using 3-D acquired T1-weighted images of the cervical spine from human controls and patients with multiple sclerosis, the intra- and inter-observer reproducibilities were evaluated, and compared favorably with an existing cord segmentation method. While the AS method overestimated the cord area by approximately 14% compared to manual outlining, correlations between cord cross-sectional area and clinical disability scores confirmed the relevance of the new method in measuring cord atrophy in multiple sclerosis. Segmentation of the cord from 2-D multi-slice T2-weighted images is also demonstrated over the cervical and thoracic region. Since the cord center-line is an intrinsic parameter extracted as part of the segmentation process, the image can be resampled such that the center-line forms one coordinate axis of a new image, allowing simple visualization of the cord structure and pathology; this could find wider application in standard radiological practice.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 14
content type line 23
ISSN:1053-8119
1095-9572
1095-9572
DOI:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.12.121