title: Stereotaxy-based regional brain volumetry applied to segmented MRI: validation and results in deficit and nondeficit schizophrenia.
abstract: A method for postprocessing of segmented routine brain MRI studies providing automated definition of major structures (frontal, parietal, occipital, and temporal lobes; cerebellar hemispheres; and lateral ventricles) according to the Talairach atlas is presented. The method was applied to MRI studies from 25 normal subjects (NV), 14 patients with deficit schizophrenia (DS), and 14 with nondeficit schizophrenia (NDS), to evaluate their gray matter and CSF regional volumes. The two patient groups did not differ in mean age at illness onset, duration of illness, severity of psychotic symptoms, or disorganization; DS had more severe avolition and worse social functioning than NDS. For validation purposes, brain structures were manually outlined on original MR images in 10 studies, thus obtaining reference measures. Manual and automated measures were repeated 1 month apart to measure reproducibilities of both methods. The automated method required less than 1 min/operator per study vs more than 30 min for manual assessment. Mean absolute difference per structure between the two techniques was 4.8 ml. Overall reproducibility did not significantly differ between the two methods. In subjects with schizophrenia, a significant decrease in GM and increase in CSF were found. GM loss was confined to frontal and temporal lobes. Lateral ventricles were significantly larger bilaterally in NDS compared to NV and only on the right in NDS compared to DS. The finding of greater structural brain abnormalities in NDS adds to the evidence that deficit schizophrenia does not represent just the more severe end of the schizophrenia continuum.
authors.affiliation: Biostructure and Bioimaging Institute, National Council for Research-University Federico II, Via Pansini, 5, 80131 Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Quarantelli
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Larobina
authors.forename: Umberto
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Volpe
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Amati
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tedeschi
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ciarmiello
authors.forename: Arturo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brunetti
authors.forename: Silvana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Galderisi
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Alfano
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000473:pathology*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D013238:Stereotaxic Techniques