Analysis of the hemispheric asymmetry using fractal dimension of a skeletonized cerebral surface.
We investigated hemispheric asymmetry using the fractal dimension (FD) of the skeletonized cerebral surface. Sixty-two T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging volumes from normal Korean adults were used. The skeletonization of binary volume data, which corresponded to the union of the gray matter and cerebrospinal flow classified by fuzzy clustering, was performed slice by slice in the sagittal direction, and then skeletonized slices were integrated into the three-dimensional (3-D) hemisphere. Finally, the FD of the 3-D skeletonized cerebral surface was calculated using the box-counting method. We measured the FD of the skeletonized cerebral surface and the volumes of intracranial gray matter and white matter for the whole hemispheres and obtained the hemispheric asymmetries of each measurement. The FD, the gray matter, and the white matter volumes for the whole hemispheres decreased in the old group. The asymmetry of the FD revealed a significant right-greater-than-left asymmetry showed rightward, but did not change according to age and gender. None of the intracranial gray matter or white matter volumes showed any significant asymmetric changes. It could be said that the FD of the skeletonized cerebral surface is a novel measure of cerebral asymmetry.
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea.
Jong-Min
JM
Lee
Uicheul
U
Yoon
Jae-Jin
JJ
Kim
In Young
IY
Kim
Dong Soo
DS
Lee
Jun Soo
JS
Kwon
Sun I
SI
Kim
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000465:Algorithms; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005260:Female; D017709:Fractals; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012737:Sex Factors