Manual and automated tissue segmentation confirm the impact of thalamus atrophy on cognition in multiple sclerosis: A multicenter study

•Thalamus atrophy is associated with cognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis.•This was confirmed by automated and manual segmentations, but effect sizes varied.•The algorithms work in a multi-center setting.•Automated techniques exhibit proportional bias with respect to thalamus size.•Differences...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	NeuroImage clinical Vol. 29; p. 102549
Main Authors:	Burggraaff, Jessica, Liu, Yao, Prieto, Juan C., Simoes, Jorge, de Sitter, Alexandra, Ruggieri, Serena, Brouwer, Iman, Lissenberg-Witte, Birgit I., Rocca, Mara A., Valsasina, Paola, Ropele, Stefan, Gasperini, Claudio, Gallo, Antonio, Pareto, Deborah, Sastre-Garriga, Jaume, Enzinger, Christian, Filippi, Massimo, De Stefano, Nicola, Ciccarelli, Olga, Hulst, Hanneke E., Wattjes, Mike P., Barkhof, Frederik, Uitdehaag, Bernard M.J., Vrenken, Hugo, Guttmann, Charles R.G.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Netherlands Elsevier Inc 01.01.2021 Elsevier
Subjects:	Atrophy Cognition Deep grey matter MRI Multiple Sclerosis Radiology Regular Segmentation Thalamus RRMS WMV Segmentation MRI WCST CNR NGMV SPM12 Cognition IPS Multiple Sclerosis Atrophy SD eTIV WLG SRT NWMV WM VolBrain Thalamus CAT12 Deep grey matter SDMT EDSS CII NBV GIF CI GM MS ICC CP 10/36 SRT GMV PASAT FSL-FIRST BRB-N HC Statistical Parametric Mapping 12 Normalized brain volume Computational Anatomy Toolbox for Statistical Parametric Mapping 12 Normalized grey matter volume Selective Reminding Test standard deviations 10/36 Spatial Recall Test intraclass correlation coefficient cognitively preserved Brief Repeatable Battery of Neuropsychological Tests white matter volume Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test FMRIB Integrated Registration and Segmentation Tool information processing speed healthy control contrast-to-noise ratio Geodesic Information Flows estimated total intracranial volume Expanded Disability Status Scale cognitive impairment index Normalized white matter volume white matter grey matter volume grey matter Word List Generation cognitively impaired and preserved (CP) MRI Brain Volumetry System Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis Wisconsin Card Sorting Test Symbol Digit Modalities Test
ISSN:	2213-1582, 2213-1582
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	•Thalamus atrophy is associated with cognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis.•This was confirmed by automated and manual segmentations, but effect sizes varied.•The algorithms work in a multi-center setting.•Automated techniques exhibit proportional bias with respect to thalamus size.•Differences between vendors can affect the robustness of these associations. Thalamus atrophy has been linked to cognitive decline in multiple sclerosis (MS) using various segmentation methods. We investigated the consistency of the association between thalamus volume and cognition in MS for two common automated segmentation approaches, as well as fully manual outlining. Standardized neuropsychological assessment and 3-Tesla 3D-T1-weighted brain MRI were collected (multi-center) from 57 MS patients and 17 healthy controls. Thalamus segmentations were generated manually and using five automated methods. Agreement between the algorithms and manual outlines was assessed with Bland-Altman plots; linear regression assessed the presence of proportional bias. The effect of segmentation method on the separation of cognitively impaired (CI) and preserved (CP) patients was investigated through Generalized Estimating Equations; associations with cognitive measures were investigated using linear mixed models, for each method and vendor. In smaller thalami, automated methods systematically overestimated volumes compared to manual segmentations [ρ=(-0.42)-(-0.76); p-values < 0.001). All methods significantly distinguished CI from CP MS patients, except manual outlines of the left thalamus (p = 0.23). Poorer global neuropsychological test performance was significantly associated with smaller thalamus volumes bilaterally using all methods. Vendor significantly affected the findings. Automated and manual thalamus segmentation consistently demonstrated an association between thalamus atrophy and cognitive impairment in MS. However, a proportional bias in smaller thalami and choice of MRI acquisition system might impact the effect size of these findings.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Both authors contributed equally.
ISSN:	2213-1582 2213-1582
DOI:	10.1016/j.nicl.2020.102549