New Alzheimer Disease Findings from National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) Discussed (Cortical Thickness Estimation: a Comparison of Freesurfer and Three Voxel-based Methods In a Test-retest Analysis and a Clinical Application)

2021 JUN 22 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Pain & Central Nervous System Daily News -- Research findings on Neurodegenerative Diseases and Conditions - Alzheimer Disease are discussed in a new report. According to news reporting originating from Mexico City, Mexico, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “The cortical thickness has been used as a biomarker to assess different cerebral conditions and to detect alterations in the cortical mantle. In this work, we compare methods from the FreeSurfer software, the Computational Anatomy Toolbox (CAT12), a Laplacian approach and a new method here proposed, based on the Euclidean Distance Transform (EDT), and its corresponding computational phantom designed to validate the calculation algorithm.”

Financial supporters for this research include GlaxoSmithKline, European Commission, Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Comprehensive Biomedical Research Centre (CBRC) Strategic Investment Award, European Commission, National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Unit in Dementia based at University College London Hospitals (UCLH), University College London (UCL), NIH National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), NIH National Institute of Neurological Disorders & Stroke (NINDS).

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), “At region of interest (ROI) level, within- and inter-method comparisons were carried out with a test-retest analysis, in a subset comprising 21 healthy subjects taken from the Multi-Modal MRI Reproducibility Resource (MMRR) dataset. From the Minimal Interval Resonance Imaging in Alzheimer’s Disease (MIRIAD) data, classification methods were compared in their performance to detect cortical thickness differences between 23 healthy controls (HC) and 45 subjects with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The validation of the proposed EDT-based method showed a more accurate and precise distance measurement as voxel resolution increased. For the within-method comparisons, mean test-retest measures (percentages differences/intraclass correlation/Pearson correlation) were similar for FreeSurfer (1.80%/0.90/0.95), CAT12 (1.91%/0.83/0.91), Laplacian (1.27%/0.89/0.95) and EDT (2.20%/0.88/0.94). Inter-method correlations showed moderate to strong values (R > 0.77) and, in the AD comparison study, all methods were able to detect cortical alterations between groups. Surface- and voxel-based methods have advantages and drawbacks regarding computational demands and measurement precision, while thickness definition was mainly associated to the cortical thickness absolute differences among methods.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “However, for each method, measurements were reliable, followed similar trends along the cortex and allowed detection of cortical atrophies between HC and patients with AD.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Cortical Thickness Estimation: a Comparison of Freesurfer and Three Voxel-based Methods In a Test-retest Analysis and a Clinical Application. Brain Topography, 2021. Brain Topography can be contacted at: Springer, Van Godewijckstraat 30, 3311 Gz Dordrecht, Netherlands. (Springer - www.springer.com; Brain Topography - http://www.springerlink.com/content/0896-0267/)

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Jorge A. Marquez-Flores, National Autonomous University, Inst Ciencias Aplicadas & Tecnol, Circuito Exterior S-N, Ciudad University, Mexico City 04510, Df, Mexico. Additional authors for this research include Juan Velazquez, Julieta Mateos, Erick H. Pasaye and Fernando A. Barrios.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10548-021-00852-2. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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