Computer-aided detection of therapy-induced leukoencephalopathy in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients treated with intravenous high-dose methotrexate.
The purpose of this study was to use objective quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods to develop a computer-aided detection (CAD) tool to differentiate white matter (WM) hyperintensities into either leukoencephalopathy (LE) induced by chemotherapy or normal maturational processes in children treated for acute lymphoblastic leukemia without irradiation. A combined MRI set consisting of T1-weighted, T2-weighted, proton-density-weighted and fluid-attenuated inversion recovery images and WM, gray matter and cerebrospinal fluid proportional volume maps from a spatially normalized atlas were analyzed with a neural network segmentation based on a Kohonen self-organizing map (SOM). Segmented maps were manually classified to identify the most hyperintense WM region and the normal-appearing genu region. Signal intensity differences normalized to the genu within each examination were generated for four time points in 228 children. A second Kohonen SOM was trained on the first examination data and divided the WM into normal-appearing or LE groups. Reviewing labels from the CAD tool revealed a consistency measure of 89.8% (167 of 186) within patients. The overall agreement between the CAD tool and the consensus reading of two trained observers was 84.1% (535 of 636), with 84.2% (170 of 202) agreement in the training set and 84.1% (365 of 434) agreement in the testing set. These results suggest that subtle therapy-induced LE can be objectively and reproducibly detected in children treated for cancer using this CAD approach based on relative differences in quantitative signal intensity measures normalized within each examination.
Glass
John O
JO
Division of Translational Imaging Research, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA. john.glass@stjude.org
Reddick
Wilburn E
WE
Li
Chin-Shang
CS
Laningham
Fred H
FH
Helton
Kathleen J
KJ
Pui
Ching-Hon
CH
D000293:Adolescent; D000465:Algorithms; D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects*; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007223:Infant; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008727:Methotrexate / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects*; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000188:drug therapy*
D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic; D008727:Methotrexate