Automated Versus Manual Segmentation of Brain Region Volumes in Former Football Players

Overview

Journal Neuroimage Clin

Publisher Elsevier

Specialties Neurology
Radiology

Date 2018 Jun 8

PMID 29876273

Citations 21

Authors

Jeffrey P Guenette

Robert A Stern

Yorghos Tripodis

Alicia S Chua

Vivian Schultz

Valerie J Sydnor

Nathaniel Somes

Sarina Karmacharya

Christian Lepage

Pawel Wrobel

Michael L Alosco

Brett M Martin

Christine E Chaisson

Michael J Coleman

Alexander P Lin

Ofer Pasternak

Nikos Makris

Martha E Shenton

Inga K Koerte

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Objectives: To determine whether or not automated FreeSurfer segmentation of brain regions considered important in repetitive head trauma can be analyzed accurately without manual correction.

Materials And Methods: 3 T MR neuroimaging was performed with automated FreeSurfer segmentation and manual correction of 11 brain regions in former National Football League (NFL) players with neurobehavioral symptoms and in control subjects. Automated segmentation and manually-corrected volumes were compared using an intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Linear mixed effects regression models were also used to estimate between-group mean volume comparisons and to correlate former NFL player brain volumes with neurobehavioral factors.

Results: Eighty-six former NFL players (55.2 ± 8.0 years) and 22 control subjects (57.0 ± 6.6 years) were evaluated. ICC was highly correlated between automated and manually-corrected corpus callosum volumes (0.911), lateral ventricular volumes (right 0.980, left 0.967), and amygdala-hippocampal complex volumes (right 0.713, left 0.731), but less correlated when amygdalae (right -0.170, left -0.090) and hippocampi (right 0.539, left 0.637) volumes were separately delineated and also less correlated for cingulate gyri volumes (right 0.639, left 0.351). Statistically significant differences between former NFL player and controls were identified in 8 of 11 regions with manual correction but in only 4 of 11 regions without such correction. Within NFL players, manually corrected brain volumes were significantly associated with 3 neurobehavioral factors, but a different set of 3 brain regions and neurobehavioral factor correlations was observed for brain region volumes segmented without manual correction.

Conclusions: Automated FreeSurfer segmentation of the corpus callosum, lateral ventricles, and amygdala-hippocampus complex may be appropriate for analysis without manual correction. However, FreeSurfer segmentation of the amygdala, hippocampus, and cingulate gyrus need further manual correction prior to performing group comparisons and correlations with neurobehavioral measures.

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