Segmentation of gray matter, white matter, and CSF with fluid and white matter suppression using MP2RAGE.
BACKGROUND
MP2RAGE can generate uniform T1 -weighted images, which have been used for brain segmentation. However, there remain concerns about carrying out fast brain segmentation.


PURPOSE
To propose an acquisition-based method for fast segmentation of gray matter (GM), white matter (WM), and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of healthy human brains with fluid and white matter suppression (FLAWS) using MP2RAGE.


STUDY TYPE
Prospective.


SUBJECTS
12 volunteers (23-28 years, seven subjects; 51-62 years, five subjects).


FIELD STRENGTH/SEQUENCES
3T/3D MPRAGE and FLAWS.


ASSESSMENT
The proposed method was evaluated by calculating tissue volumes and the spatial overlap with the segmentation results from FSL and SPM12. The processing time was recorded.


STATISTICAL TESTS
A paired t-test was used to compare the tissue volumes of the proposed method with those from other segmentation methods RESULTS: For the 12 subjects, the tissue volume difference between the proposed and SPM12 were 3.2 ± 2.8%, 4.2 ± 2.5%, 18.2 ± 13.1% for GM, WM, and CSF, respectively. The relative difference between the proposed and FSL was over 14% for all tissue classes. The spatial overlap between the proposed and other methods were 87-94% for GM and WM and less than 80% for CSF. The GM and WM volumes of the proposed method were not significantly different from those of SPM12 using MPRAGE as the input (P = 0.5540 and P = 0.3115, respectively). The rest of the comparisons all showed significant differences between the proposed and other methods. Statistical analysis of the two subgroups yielded similar results. The mean processing time of one subject was 6.5, 185, and 165 seconds for the proposed method, FSL, and SPM12, respectively.


DATA CONCLUSION
Our method may be accurate for the segmentation of most brain structures using FLAWS. In addition, the proposed method is fast and applicable to the two distinct age ranges.


LEVEL OF EVIDENCE
2 Technical Efficacy: Stage 1 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2018;48:1540-1550.
['Wang|Yishi|Y|', 'Wang|Yajie|Y|', 'Zhang|Zhe|Z|', 'Xiong|Yuhui|Y|', 'Zhang|Qiang|Q|', 'Yuan|Chun|C|', 'Guo|Hua|H|']
D000328:Adult D000465:Algorithms D001921:Brain D002555:Cerebrospinal Fluid D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted D005260:Female D066128:Gray Matter D006801:Humans D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D011446:Prospective Studies D012984:Software D066127:White Matter D055815:Young Adult
segmentation MP2RAGE FLAWS MRI