Summary
Objectives:
Cerebral ventricular volume has the potential to become an important parameter in
quantitative neurological diagnosis. However, no accepted methodology for routine
clinical use exists to date. We sought a robust, reproducible, and fast technique
to evaluate cerebral ventricular volume in young children.
Methods:
We describe a novel volumetric methodology to segment and visualize intracerebral
fluid spaces and to quantify ventricular volumes. The method is based on broadly available
T1 weighted volumetric magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, an interactive watershed transform,
and a fully automated histogram analysis. We evaluated this volumetric methodology
with 34 clinical volumetric MR datasets from non-sedated children (age 6-7 y) with
a history of prematurity and low birth weight (≤ 1500 g) obtained during a prospective
study.
Results:
The methodology, with adaptation for small ventricular size, was capable of evaluating
all 34 of the pediatric datasets for cerebral ventricular volume. The method was a)
robust for normal and pathological anatomy, b) reproducible, c) fast with less than
five minutes for image analysis, and d) equally applicable to children and adults.
Conclusions:
Clinical brain ventricular volume calculations in non-sedated children can be performed
using routine MR imaging besides efficient three-dimensional segmentation and histogram
analysis with results that are robust and reproducible.
Keywords
Pediatrics - magnetic resonance imaging - periventricular leukomalacia - computer-assisted
image analysis
