title: Putting our heads together: a consensus approach to brain/non-brain segmentation in T1-weighted MR volumes.
abstract: We describe an approach to brain extraction from T1-weighted MR volumes that uses a hierarchy of masks created by different models to form a consensus mask. The algorithm (McStrip) incorporates atlas-based extraction via nonlinear warping, intensity-threshold masking with connectivity constraints, and edge-based masking with morphological operations. Volume and boundary metrics were computed to evaluate the reproducibility and accuracy of McStrip against manual brain extraction on 38 scans from normal and ataxic subjects. McStrip masks were reproducible across six repeat scans of a normal subject and were significantly more accurate than the masks produced by any of the individual algorithmic components.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55417-2309, USA. kelly@neurovia.umn.edu
authors.forename: Kelly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rehm
authors.forename: Kirt
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Schaper
authors.forename: Jon
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.forename: Roger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Woods
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stoltzner
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rottenberg
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001259:Ataxia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D006801:Humans; D015203:Reproducibility of Results