biostudies-literaturePiot ENIA NIH HHSNCRR NIH HHSAssociation Nationale de la Recherche et de la TechnologieNIMH NIH HHS34585https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC12494955biostudies-literatureUnknown15(1)Neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's are difficult to diagnose due to brain complexity and imaging variability. However, volumetric analysis tools, using reference curves, help detect abnormal brain atrophy and support diagnosis and monitoring. This study evaluates the robustness of three segmentation algorithms, AssemblyNet, FastSurfer and FreeSurfer, in constructing brain volume reference curves and detecting hippocampal atrophy. Using data from 3,730 cognitively normal subjects, we built reference curves and assessed robustness to magnetic field strength (1.5T vs. 3T) using four error metrics (sMAPE, sMSPE, wMAPE, sMdAPE) with bootstrap validation. We evaluated classification performance using hippocampal atrophy rates and HAVAs scores (Hippocampal-Amygdalo-Ventricular Atrophy scScientific reportsEstimation of reference curves for brain atrophy and analysis of robustness to machine effects.PMC12494955P50 MH071616R01 AG021910U19 AG024904R01 AG032306U24 RR021382P50 AG005681P01 AG026276P01 AG003991CIFRE No. 2022/0918Crawford KCarmichael OBelden CMTaylor JLMandelli MLGrossman HBrewer JRosen HJLane BCarrillo MChertkow HGunter JFigurski MLord JLBonakdarpour BKendall TPiot EMontine TVillanueva-Meyer JWolk DTaylor-Reinwald LPetrella JRMathis CRachinsky IWoo EFrank RRenard FRoberson ECreech MLGeldmacher DDuara RWatkins FReeder SPasternack Sde Leon MJOates ECelmins DWu CKPawluczyk SJiminez GFletcher ELah JJSeeley WWLin MRaichle MMunic DSalloway SWeintraub MKarlawish JHMintun MATurner RSCapote HNeu SFeldman HKhachaturian ZJones DDang MJohnson KALee TYDoraiswamy PMBernick CPreda ABoeve BFAsthana SAisen PHosein COtt BRBurns JMHoltzman DBrockington JMacAvoy MGQuinn JChaing GSmith CDMintzer JSnyder PHsiao JRoberts PSwerdlow RHTremont GPaul SBorowski BLandau SHynes MLFargher KKoeppe RABrosch JRVaron DBorges-Neto SSorensen GHunt CDomoto-Reilly KJicha GCarter RReynolds BKowall NGreen RCReiman EMLove MNBurke AdeToledo-Morrell LChen KBrand CRavdin LBell KLTeodoro LSirrel SAJacobson SACarlsson CMFrontotemporal Lobar Degeneration Neuroimaging InitiativeZimmerman EAPomara NGorno-Tempini MLFleisher AClark CMSadowsky CPorsteinsson APTingus KMiller BLJohnson KHsiung GRFranklin ECella JSJohnson NSchuff NJohnson SRusinek HKertesz AShah RCHonig LSLerner AMorris JFillit HKerwin DSchultz SKLind BVillena TJohnson HBachman DJagust WSaykin AJMason SSHeidebrink JLRosen HRosen AScharre DWAlbert MAnderson KFaber KApostolova LRachisky IThompson PAlbers CSKittur SVemuri PFinger EPetersen RShen LOliver AKornak JBudson AEClark DTinklenberg JSenjem MOnyike CFox NVanderswag HIsmail MSMartin KSather TVarma PSilverman DHSSpann BMGreig MTStern YBartzokis GKaye JFatica PHefti FColeman EBartha RMitsis EAttye ANorbash ATatsuoka CTrost DDavies PConrad GWalter SKielb SKnopman DMaillard PAdeli ABernstein MKilliany RKataki MCairns NJQuiceno MDrost DOakley MMason JSilbert LToga AWGalvin JED'Agostino DSantulli RBKrainik ASabbagh MNFlashman LAHake AMForoud TMYesavage JSchneider SBalasubramanian ABBeccera MGordineer LSarrael ABlank KKim SRelkin NArnold SESperling RACarson REHouseholder ELee VBrooks WMBlack SRainka MSmith KECaldwell CPearlson GDFarlow MRMudge BBeckett LCarroll MJack CRHerring SLopez OLMesulam MMLipowski KGraff-Radford NRDolen SWolday SFoster NPogorelec DMOgrocki Pvan Dyck CHQuerfurth HPonto LLBHernando RMulnard RAStefanovic BMalloy PGriffith RBates VLu PHGarg PMc-Adams-Ortiz CDickerson BCMarson DWong TZSinha PMcGinnis SGlodzik LWeiner MWPotter WSimpson DMWilliamson JDKorecka MKuller LHarvey DWard CDe Santi SCorreia SWomack KHardy PMichel CAMathews DCerbone BMatthews BRAnces BShim HDoody RSChowdhury MAlzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging InitiativeBrown ADPotkin SBorrie MBergman HOlichney JTrncic NBoxer ALDeCArli CSeltzer MRogers JThai GMakino KMPerry DSim ISchneider LSSpicer KLevey AIObisesan TOPasternak SSmith ATrojanowki JQTha LMarshall GParfitt FDonohue MJohnson PLRaj BARountree SNguyen DAllard JAssaly MTariot PGoldstein BSShaw LMSink KMThomas RGKantarci KfalseEstimation of reference curves for brain atrophy and analysis of robustness to machine effects.Neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's are difficult to diagnose due to brain complexity and imaging variability. However, volumetric analysis tools, using reference curves, help detect abnormal brain atrophy and support diagnosis and monitoring. This study evaluates the robustness of three segmentation algorithms, AssemblyNet, FastSurfer and FreeSurfer, in constructing brain volume reference curves and detecting hippocampal atrophy. Using data from 3,730 cognitively normal subjects, we built reference curves and assessed robustness to magnetic field strength (1.5T vs. 3T) using four error metrics (sMAPE, sMSPE, wMAPE, sMdAPE) with bootstrap validation. We evaluated classification performance using hippocampal atrophy rates and HAVAs scores (Hippocampal-Amygdalo-Ventricular Atrophy sc2025-01-01T00:00:00Z2025 Oct2026-07-15T06:52:55.839Z2026-06-30T03:25:02.374ZS-EPMC124949554104439510.1038/s41598-025-18073-z