Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: Background and rationale
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.Methods
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.Results
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.Conclusion
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.
SUBMITTER: Burggraaff J
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7787946 | biostudies-literature | 2021
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Burggraaff Jessica J Liu Yao Y Prieto Juan C JC Simoes Jorge J de Sitter Alexandra A Ruggieri Serena S Brouwer Iman I Lissenberg-Witte Birgit I BI Rocca Mara A MA Valsasina Paola P Ropele Stefan S Gasperini Claudio C Gallo Antonio A Pareto Deborah D Sastre-Garriga Jaume J Enzinger Christian C Filippi Massimo M De Stefano Nicola N Ciccarelli Olga O Hulst Hanneke E HE Wattjes Mike P MP Barkhof Frederik F Uitdehaag Bernard M J BMJ Vrenken Hugo H Guttmann Charles R G CRG
NeuroImage. Clinical 20201225
<h4>Background and rationale</h4>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.<h4>Methods</h4>Standardized neuropsychological assessment and 3-Tesla 3D-T1-weighted brain MRI were collected (multi-center) from 57 MS patients and 17 healthy controls. ...[more]