LesionQuant for Assessment of MRI in Multiple Sclerosis—A Promising Supplement to the Visual Scan Inspection
Background and Goals: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a central nervous system inflammatory disease where magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an important tool for diagnosis and disease monitoring. Quantitative measurements of lesion volume, lesion count, distribution of lesions, and brain atrophy have a...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2020-12-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Neurology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fneur.2020.546744/full |
| _version_ | 1818857597870014464 |
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| author | Synne Brune Synne Brune Einar A. Høgestøl Einar A. Høgestøl Vanja Cengija Pål Berg-Hansen Pål Berg-Hansen Piotr Sowa Gro O. Nygaard Hanne F. Harbo Hanne F. Harbo Mona K. Beyer Mona K. Beyer |
| author_facet | Synne Brune Synne Brune Einar A. Høgestøl Einar A. Høgestøl Vanja Cengija Pål Berg-Hansen Pål Berg-Hansen Piotr Sowa Gro O. Nygaard Hanne F. Harbo Hanne F. Harbo Mona K. Beyer Mona K. Beyer |
| author_sort | Synne Brune |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background and Goals: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a central nervous system inflammatory disease where magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an important tool for diagnosis and disease monitoring. Quantitative measurements of lesion volume, lesion count, distribution of lesions, and brain atrophy have a potentially significant value for evaluating disease progression. We hypothesize that utilizing software designed for evaluating MRI data in MS will provide more accurate and detailed analyses compared to the visual neuro-radiological evaluation.Methods: A group of 56 MS patients (mean age 35 years, 70% females and 96% relapsing-remitting MS) was examined with brain MRI one and 5 years after diagnosis. The T1 and FLAIR brain MRI sequences for all patients were analyzed using the LesionQuant (LQ) software. These data were compared with data from structured visual evaluations of the MRI scans performed by neuro-radiologists, including assessments of atrophy, and lesion count. The data from LQ were also compared with data from other validated research methods for brain segmentation, including assessments of whole brain volume and lesion volume. Correlations with clinical tests like the timed 25-foot walk test (T25FT) were performed to explore additional value of LQ analyses.Results: Lesion count assessments by LQ and by the neuro-radiologist were significantly correlated one year (cor = 0.92, p = 2.2 × 10−16) and 5 years (cor = 0.84, p = 2.7 × 10−16) after diagnosis. Analyzes of the intra- and interrater variability also correlated significantly (cor = 0.96, p < 0.001, cor = 0.97, p < 0.001). Significant positive correlation was found between lesion volume measured by LQ and by the software Cascade (cor = 0.7, p < 0.001. LQ detected a reduction in whole brain percentile >10 in 10 patients across the time-points, whereas the neuro-radiologist assessment identified six of these. The neuro-radiologist additionally identified five patients with increased atrophy in the follow-up period, all of them displayed decreasing low whole brain percentiles (median 11, range 8–28) in the LQ analysis. Significant positive correlation was identified between lesion volume measured by LQ and test performance on the T25FT both at 1 and 5 years after diagnosis.Conclusion: For the number of MS lesions at both time-points, we demonstrated strong correlations between the assessments done by LQ and the neuro-radiologist. Lesion volume evaluated with LQ correlated with T25FT performance. LQ-analyses classified more patients to have brain atrophy than the visual neuro-radiological evaluation. In conclusion, LQ seems like a promising supplement to the evaluation performed by neuro-radiologists, providing an automated tool for evaluating lesions in MS patients and also detecting early signs of atrophy in both a longitudinal and cross-sectional setting. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T08:42:56Z |
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| id | doaj.art-752fc697d451445981cf73311bc30b7e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-2295 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T08:42:56Z |
| publishDate | 2020-12-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Neurology |
| spelling | doaj.art-752fc697d451445981cf73311bc30b7e2022-12-21T20:28:53ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Neurology1664-22952020-12-011110.3389/fneur.2020.546744546744LesionQuant for Assessment of MRI in Multiple Sclerosis—A Promising Supplement to the Visual Scan InspectionSynne Brune0Synne Brune1Einar A. Høgestøl2Einar A. Høgestøl3Vanja Cengija4Pål Berg-Hansen5Pål Berg-Hansen6Piotr Sowa7Gro O. Nygaard8Hanne F. Harbo9Hanne F. Harbo10Mona K. Beyer11Mona K. Beyer12Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, NorwayDepartment of Neurology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, NorwayInstitute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, NorwayDepartment of Neurology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, NorwayDivision of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, NorwayInstitute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, NorwayDepartment of Neurology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, NorwayDivision of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, NorwayDepartment of Neurology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, NorwayInstitute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, NorwayDepartment of Neurology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, NorwayInstitute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, NorwayDivision of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, NorwayBackground and Goals: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a central nervous system inflammatory disease where magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an important tool for diagnosis and disease monitoring. Quantitative measurements of lesion volume, lesion count, distribution of lesions, and brain atrophy have a potentially significant value for evaluating disease progression. We hypothesize that utilizing software designed for evaluating MRI data in MS will provide more accurate and detailed analyses compared to the visual neuro-radiological evaluation.Methods: A group of 56 MS patients (mean age 35 years, 70% females and 96% relapsing-remitting MS) was examined with brain MRI one and 5 years after diagnosis. The T1 and FLAIR brain MRI sequences for all patients were analyzed using the LesionQuant (LQ) software. These data were compared with data from structured visual evaluations of the MRI scans performed by neuro-radiologists, including assessments of atrophy, and lesion count. The data from LQ were also compared with data from other validated research methods for brain segmentation, including assessments of whole brain volume and lesion volume. Correlations with clinical tests like the timed 25-foot walk test (T25FT) were performed to explore additional value of LQ analyses.Results: Lesion count assessments by LQ and by the neuro-radiologist were significantly correlated one year (cor = 0.92, p = 2.2 × 10−16) and 5 years (cor = 0.84, p = 2.7 × 10−16) after diagnosis. Analyzes of the intra- and interrater variability also correlated significantly (cor = 0.96, p < 0.001, cor = 0.97, p < 0.001). Significant positive correlation was found between lesion volume measured by LQ and by the software Cascade (cor = 0.7, p < 0.001. LQ detected a reduction in whole brain percentile >10 in 10 patients across the time-points, whereas the neuro-radiologist assessment identified six of these. The neuro-radiologist additionally identified five patients with increased atrophy in the follow-up period, all of them displayed decreasing low whole brain percentiles (median 11, range 8–28) in the LQ analysis. Significant positive correlation was identified between lesion volume measured by LQ and test performance on the T25FT both at 1 and 5 years after diagnosis.Conclusion: For the number of MS lesions at both time-points, we demonstrated strong correlations between the assessments done by LQ and the neuro-radiologist. Lesion volume evaluated with LQ correlated with T25FT performance. LQ-analyses classified more patients to have brain atrophy than the visual neuro-radiological evaluation. In conclusion, LQ seems like a promising supplement to the evaluation performed by neuro-radiologists, providing an automated tool for evaluating lesions in MS patients and also detecting early signs of atrophy in both a longitudinal and cross-sectional setting.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fneur.2020.546744/fullMRIlongitudinal lesionsbrain atrophyautomatic lesion detectionmultiple sclerosis |
| spellingShingle | Synne Brune Synne Brune Einar A. Høgestøl Einar A. Høgestøl Vanja Cengija Pål Berg-Hansen Pål Berg-Hansen Piotr Sowa Gro O. Nygaard Hanne F. Harbo Hanne F. Harbo Mona K. Beyer Mona K. Beyer LesionQuant for Assessment of MRI in Multiple Sclerosis—A Promising Supplement to the Visual Scan Inspection Frontiers in Neurology MRI longitudinal lesions brain atrophy automatic lesion detection multiple sclerosis |
| title | LesionQuant for Assessment of MRI in Multiple Sclerosis—A Promising Supplement to the Visual Scan Inspection |
| title_full | LesionQuant for Assessment of MRI in Multiple Sclerosis—A Promising Supplement to the Visual Scan Inspection |
| title_fullStr | LesionQuant for Assessment of MRI in Multiple Sclerosis—A Promising Supplement to the Visual Scan Inspection |
| title_full_unstemmed | LesionQuant for Assessment of MRI in Multiple Sclerosis—A Promising Supplement to the Visual Scan Inspection |
| title_short | LesionQuant for Assessment of MRI in Multiple Sclerosis—A Promising Supplement to the Visual Scan Inspection |
| title_sort | lesionquant for assessment of mri in multiple sclerosis a promising supplement to the visual scan inspection |
| topic | MRI longitudinal lesions brain atrophy automatic lesion detection multiple sclerosis |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fneur.2020.546744/full |
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