title: Automatic segmentation of gadolinium-enhanced multiple sclerosis lesions.
abstract: Automatic detection and quantitation of contrast-enhanced lesions on MRI is expected to be useful in characterizing the disease state in multiple sclerosis (MS). The enhancing structures such as cerebral vasculature and regions with no blood-brain barrier complicate automated analysis of lesion enhancement. A pulse sequence that incorporates both stationary and marching saturation bands and gradient dephasing is described for suppressing the enhancements within the cerebral vasculature. A postprocessing technique based on automatic image segmentation is implemented for eliminating enhancing structures such as choroid plexus. All MS lesions larger than 5 mm3 have been successfully identified. The automated analysis produced no false-positives or false-negative lesions above this volume in 13 patients with MS who were evaluated using the acquisition and evaluation techniques described.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of Texas Medical School at Houston, 77030, USA.
authors.forename: B J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Bedell
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Narayana
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D016880:Anisotropy; D016477:Artifacts; D001812:Blood-Brain Barrier / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D003287:Contrast Media; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000295:instrumentation; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation*; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D019786:Gadolinium DTPA