Download PDF
Methods Inf Med 2004; 43(04): 376-382
DOI: 10.1055/s-0038-1633881
Original Article
Schattauer GmbH

A Reliable and Efficient Method for Cerebral Ventricular Volumetry in Pediatric Neuroimaging

H. K. Hahn
1   MeVis – Center for Medical Diagnostic Systems and Visualization, Bremen, Germany
,
W. S. Millar
2   Department of Radiology, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
,
O. Klinghammer
1   MeVis – Center for Medical Diagnostic Systems and Visualization, Bremen, Germany
,
M. S. Durkin
3   Department of Population Health Sciences, University of Wisconsin Medical School, Madison, WI, USA
,
P. K. Tulipano
4   Department of Biomedical Informatics, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
,
H.-O. Peitgen
1   MeVis – Center for Medical Diagnostic Systems and Visualization, Bremen, Germany
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

Publication Date:
05 February 2018 (online)

    Permissions and Reprints

Summary

Objectives: Cerebral ventricular volume has the potential to become an important parameter in quantitative neurological diagnosis. However, no accepted methodology for routine clinical use exists to date. We sought a robust, reproducible, and fast technique to evaluate cerebral ventricular volume in young children.

Methods: We describe a novel volumetric methodology to segment and visualize intracerebral fluid spaces and to quantify ventricular volumes. The method is based on broadly available T1 weighted volumetric magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, an interactive watershed transform, and a fully automated histogram analysis. We evaluated this volumetric methodology with 34 clinical volumetric MR datasets from non-sedated children (age 6-7 y) with a history of prematurity and low birth weight (≤ 1500 g) obtained during a prospective study.

Results: The methodology, with adaptation for small ventricular size, was capable of evaluating all 34 of the pediatric datasets for cerebral ventricular volume. The method was a) robust for normal and pathological anatomy, b) reproducible, c) fast with less than five minutes for image analysis, and d) equally applicable to children and adults.

Conclusions: Clinical brain ventricular volume calculations in non-sedated children can be performed using routine MR imaging besides efficient three-dimensional segmentation and histogram analysis with results that are robust and reproducible.

Keywords

Pediatrics - magnetic resonance imaging - periventricular leukomalacia - computer-assisted image analysis
 

  • References

  • 1 Inder TE, Huppi PS, Warfield S, Kikinis R, Zientara GP, Barnes PD. et al. Periventricular white matter injury in the premature infant is followed by reduced cerebral cortical gray matter volume at term. Ann Neurol 1999; 46 (05) 755-60.
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 2 Melhem ER, Hoon Jr. AH, Ferrucci Jr. JT, Quinn CB, Reinhardt EM, Demetrides SW. et al. Periventricular leukomalacia: relationship between lateral ventricular volume on brain MR images and severity of cognitive and motor impairment. Radiology 2000; 214 (01) 199-204.
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 3 Peterson BS, Vohr B, Staib LH, Cannistraci CJ, Dolberg A, Schneider KC. et al. Regional brain volume abnormalities and long-term cognitive outcome in preterm infants. JAMA 2000; 284 (15) 1939-47.
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 4 Condon B, Patterson J, Wyper D, Hadley D, Grant R, Teasdale G. et al. Use of magnetic resonance imaging to measure intracranial cerebrospinal fluid volume. Lancet 1986; 1 8494 1355-7.
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 5 Huppi PS, Warfield S, Kikinis R, Barnes PD, Zientara GP, Jolesz FA. et al. Quantitative magnetic resonance imaging of brain development in premature and mature newborns. Ann Neurol 1998; 43 (02) 224-35.
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 6 Tsunoda A, Mitsuoka H, Sato K, Kanayama S. A quantitative index of intracranial cerebrospinal fluid distribution in normal pressure hydrocephalus using an MRI-based processing technique. Neuroradiology 2000; 42 (06) 424-9.
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 7 Schierlitz L, Hüppi PS, Jakab M, Kikinis R, Frates MC, McTempany C. et al. Three-dimensional modeling and volume assessment of the fetal and neonatal intracranial ventricles. Proc Intl Soc Mag Reson Med 2001; 9: 402
    PubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 8 Pentlow KS, Rottenberg DA, Deck MD. Partial volume summation: a simple approach to ventricular volume determination from CT. Neuroradiology 1978; 16: 130-2.
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 9 Hahn HK, Peitgen HO. The Skull Stripping Problem in MRI Solved by a Single 3D Watershed Transform. In: Proc MICCAI: Springer, Berlin; 2000; LNCS. 1935: 134-43.
    Google Scholar
  • 10 Hahn HK, Peitgen HO. IWT – Interactive Watershed Transform: A Hierarchical Method for Efficient Interactive and Automated Segmentation of Multidimensional Gray-Scale Images. In: Medical Imaging: Image Processing. 2003. Proc SPIE. 5032 643-53.
    Google Scholar
  • 11 Hahn HK, Lentschig MG, Deimling M, Terwey B, Peitgen HO. MRI based volumetry of intra- and extracerebral CSF spaces. In: Proc CARS: Elsevier, Amsterdam. 2001. ICS 1230 384-9.
    Google Scholar
  • 12 Hahn HK, Link F, Peitgen HO. Concepts for Rapid Application Prototyping in Medical Image Analysis and Visualization. In: Proc SimVis, Simulation und Visualisierung: SCS, Erlangen. 2003: 283-98.
    Google Scholar
  • 13 Kohn MI, Tanna NK, Herman GT, Resnick SM, Mozley PD, Gur RE. et al. Analysis of brain and cerebrospinal fluid volumes with MR imaging. Part I. Methods, reliability, and validation. Radiology 1991; 178 (01) 115-22.
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar
  • 14 Kikinis R, Shenton ME, Gerig G, Martin J, Anderson M, Metcalf D. et al. Routine quantitative analysis of brain and cerebrospinal fluid spaces with MR imaging. J Magn Reson Imaging 1992; 2 (06) 619-29.
    CrossrefPubMedGoogle Scholar