title: Feature Selection Based on Machine Learning in MRIs for Hippocampal Segmentation.
abstract: Neurodegenerative diseases are frequently associated with structural changes in the brain. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans can show these variations and therefore can be used as a supportive feature for a number of neurodegenerative diseases. The hippocampus has been known to be a biomarker for Alzheimer disease and other neurological and psychiatric diseases. However, it requires accurate, robust, and reproducible delineation of hippocampal structures. Fully automatic methods are usually the voxel based approach; for each voxel a number of local features were calculated. In this paper, we compared four different techniques for feature selection from a set of 315 features extracted for each voxel: (i) filter method based on the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test; two wrapper methods, respectively, (ii) sequential forward selection and (iii) sequential backward elimination; and (iv) embedded method based on the Random Forest Classifier on a set of 10 T1-weighted brain MRIs and tested on an independent set of 25 subjects. The resulting segmentations were compared with manual reference labelling. By using only 23 feature for each voxel (sequential backward elimination) we obtained comparable state-of-the-art performances with respect to the standard tool FreeSurfer.
authors.affiliation: Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Bari, Via Orabona 4, 70125 Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Sabina
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-1372-3916
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tangaro
authors.affiliation: Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Bari, Via Orabona 4, 70125 Bari, Italy ; Dipartimento Interateneo di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Bari, Via Amendola 173, 70126 Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-0211-0783
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Amoroso
authors.affiliation: Astronomical Observatory of Capodimonte, INAF, Salita Moiariello 16, 80131 Napoli, Italy.
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-9506-5680
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brescia
authors.affiliation: Astronomical Observatory of Capodimonte, INAF, Salita Moiariello 16, 80131 Napoli, Italy.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-3787-4196
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cavuoti
authors.affiliation: Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Genova, Via Dodecaneso 33, 16146 Genova, Italy.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chincarini
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento Interateneo di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Bari, Via Amendola 173, 70126 Bari, Italy ; Dipartimento Interateneo di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Genova, Via Dodecaneso 33, 16146 Genova, Italy.
authors.forename: Rosangela
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Errico
authors.affiliation: Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Bari, Via Orabona 4, 70125 Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-6179-9643
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Inglese
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Complesso Universitario di Monte Sant'Angelo, Via Cintia 1, 80126 Napoli, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Longo
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Studi sui Sistemi Intelligenti per l'Automazione, CNR, Via Giovanni Amendola 122/D-I, 70126 Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Rosalia
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-8580-4806
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Maglietta
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento Interateneo di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Bari, Via Amendola 173, 70126 Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tateo
authors.affiliation: Astronomical Observatory of Capodimonte, INAF, Salita Moiariello 16, 80131 Napoli, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-7020-1172
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Riccio
authors.affiliation: Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Bari, Via Orabona 4, 70125 Bari, Italy ; Dipartimento Interateneo di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Bari, Via Amendola 173, 70126 Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bellotti
mesh_terms: D019295:Computational Biology; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000069550:Machine Learning; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data