Yes.

This was our guess also, the problem is that these subject were scanned with an old MPRAGE sequence that has only 160 slices and 0.94mm slice thickness, thus it does not provide full brain coverage, part of the cerebellum is missing for the big headed subjects.

That is the main reason for the cerebellum cutoff.

Is it a good idea to normalize the brain volumes (total gray m., total white m., ventricles, CSF) with brain mask volume instead of ICV?

We just want to evaluate these 7 subjects, they have 2 time points (24 hours post injury and 3 months later) and want to compensate for different
skull size.  The volume values will be correlated with other parameters like MD, FA, LI, clinical scores, etc.

They were all measured with the same non-Freesurfer optimized MPRAGE sequence (TR:1900ms, TE:3,41ms, FOV: 240mm, FOV Phase:87,5%, slice thickness: 0,94mm, number of slices :160, phase encoding direction: R->L, TI:900ms, flip angle:9° matrix:256×256, bandwith:180Hz/pixel, resolution: 0,94×0,94×0,94mm.)

Can you suggest any other measured parameter that we can use to normalize the volumes?

One more question, how can we assess the total left and right hemisphere' volume?


Thank you very much.

 
Gergo




2011/10/25 Bruce Fischl <fischl@nmr.mgh.harvard.edu>
I think your acquisition is cutting off some cerebellum, and in any case has a very steep intensity drop off in the cerebellum and brainstem. Is it slab selective in that direction? You might try increasing the size of the slab or lengthening your slab-select pulse, or including some oversampling in that direction.


On Tue, 25 Oct 2011, Gergely Orsi wrote:

SZEMAN2.tar.gz have just been uploaded.

Thank you

Gergo

2011/10/25 Gergely Orsi <gergo.orsi@gmail.com>
     Yes of course, just a minute.


2011/10/25 Bruce Fischl <fischl@nmr.mgh.harvard.edu>
     I meant canyou tar and gzip the subject and ftp it to us

On Tue, 25 Oct 2011, Gergely Orsi wrote:

     Here you are:

     # Title Segmentation Statistics
     #
     # generating_program mri_segstats
     # cvs_version $Id: mri_segstats.c,v 1.33.2.5 2009/02/11 22:38:51 nicks Exp $
     # cmdline mri_segstats --seg mri/aseg.mgz --sum stats/aseg.stats --pv
     mri/norm.mgz --excludeid 0 --brain-vol-from-seg --brainmask
     mri/brainmask.mgz --in mri/norm.mgz --in-intensity-name norm
     --in-intensity-units MR --etiv --subject SZEMAN2 --surf-wm-vol --ctab
     /home/kutato/freesurfer/ASegStatsLUT.txt
     # sysname  Linux
     # hostname kutato16
     # machine  x86_64
     # user     kutato16
     # anatomy_type volume
     #
     # SUBJECTS_DIR /home/kutato/freesurfer/subjects
     # subjectname SZEMAN2
     # BrainMaskFile  mri/brainmask.mgz
     # BrainMaskFileTimeStamp  2011/09/30 14:48:41
     # Measure BrainMask, BrainMaskNVox, Number of Brain Mask Voxels, 1460346,
     unitless
     # Measure BrainMask, BrainMaskVol, Brain Mask Volume, 1460346.000000, mm^3
     # Measure BrainSegNotVent, BrainSegVolNotVent, Brain Segmentation Volume
     Without Ventricles, 964476.000000, mm^3
     # Measure BrainSeg, BrainSegNVox, Number of Brain Segmentation Voxels, 
     986721, unitless
     # Measure BrainSeg, BrainSegVol, Brain Segmentation Volume, 986721.000000,
     mm^3
     # Measure IntraCranialVol, ICV, Intracranial Volume, 900902.902900, mm^3
     # SegVolFile mri/aseg.mgz
     # SegVolFileTimeStamp  2011/09/30 21:17:55
     # ColorTable /home/kutato/freesurfer/ASegStatsLUT.txt
     # ColorTableTimeStamp 2009/08/11 14:24:37
     # InVolFile  mri/norm.mgz
     # InVolFileTimeStamp  2011/09/30 15:23:28
     # InVolFrame 0
     # PVVolFile  mri/norm.mgz
     # PVVolFileTimeStamp  2011/09/30 15:23:28
     # surface-based-volume mm3 lh-cerebral-white-matter 199672.312500
     # surface-based-volume mm3 rh-cerebral-white-matter 200666.875000
     # surface-based-volume mm3 tot-cerebral-white-matter 400339.187500
     # ExcludeSegId 0
     # VoxelVolume_mm3 1
     # TableCol  1 ColHeader Index
     # TableCol  1 FieldName Index
     # TableCol  1 Units     NA
     # TableCol  2 ColHeader SegId
     # TableCol  2 FieldName Segmentation Id
     # TableCol  2 Units     NA
     # TableCol  3 ColHeader NVoxels
     # TableCol  3 FieldName Number of Voxels
     # TableCol  3 Units     unitless
     # TableCol  4 ColHeader Volume_mm3
     # TableCol  4 FieldName Volume
     # TableCol  4 Units     mm^3
     # TableCol  5 ColHeader StructName
     # TableCol  5 FieldName Structure Name
     # TableCol  5 Units     NA
     # TableCol  6 ColHeader normMean
     # TableCol  6 FieldName Intensity normMean
     # TableCol  6 Units     MR
     # TableCol  7 ColHeader normStdDev
     # TableCol  7 FieldName Itensity normStdDev
     # TableCol  7 Units     MR
     # TableCol  8 ColHeader normMin
     # TableCol  8 FieldName Intensity normMin
     # TableCol  8 Units     MR
     # TableCol  9 ColHeader normMax
     # TableCol  9 FieldName Intensity normMax
     # TableCol  9 Units     MR
     # TableCol 10 ColHeader normRange
     # TableCol 10 FieldName Intensity normRange
     # TableCol 10 Units     MR
     # NRows 49
     # NTableCols 10
     # ColHeaders  Index SegId NVoxels Volume_mm3 StructName normMean normStdDev
     normMin normMax normRange 
       1   2    181224   181224.0  Left-Cerebral-White-Matter       103.0824    
     7.8273    37.0000   124.0000    87.0000
       2   3    220289   220289.0  Left-Cerebral-Cortex              73.9965   
     10.0547    25.0000   109.0000    84.0000
       3   4      9827     9827.0  Left-Lateral-Ventricle            38.7152   
     10.8311    21.0000    89.0000    68.0000
       4   5       472      472.0  Left-Inf-Lat-Vent                 58.1272   
     10.0729    36.0000    97.0000    61.0000
       5   7     11866    11866.0  Left-Cerebellum-White-Matter      85.2734    
     7.6396    41.0000   110.0000    69.0000
       6   8     29669    29669.0  Left-Cerebellum-Cortex            62.3768   
     10.6794    17.0000    94.0000    77.0000
       7  10      6422     6422.0  Left-Thalamus-Proper              97.5967    
     8.1825    54.0000   114.0000    60.0000
       8  11      3645     3645.0  Left-Caudate                      86.3108    
     8.2356    52.0000   110.0000    58.0000
       9  12      5670     5670.0  Left-Putamen                      93.1821    
     5.7430    62.0000   111.0000    49.0000
      10  13      1860     1860.0  Left-Pallidum                    105.5083    
     3.8920    85.0000   116.0000    31.0000
      11  14      1023     1023.0  3rd-Ventricle                     46.9565   
     12.7555    28.0000    78.0000    50.0000
      12  15      1027     1027.0  4th-Ventricle                     34.1996   
     12.3672    11.0000    73.0000    62.0000
      13  16     12081    12081.0  Brain-Stem                        91.9390   
     11.8567    44.0000   113.0000    69.0000
      14  17      2538     2538.0  Left-Hippocampus                  80.2219    
     8.1671    29.0000   109.0000    80.0000
      15  18       952      952.0  Left-Amygdala                     80.3787    
     7.1404    55.0000   105.0000    50.0000
      16  24      1785     1785.0  CSF                               57.1199   
     13.1850    29.0000    95.0000    66.0000
      17  26       592      592.0  Left-Accumbens-area               84.8315    
     5.7364    60.0000   104.0000    44.0000
      18  28      3806     3806.0  Left-VentralDC                   101.0622    
     9.6848    51.0000   115.0000    64.0000
      19  30       190      190.0  Left-vessel                       71.0192   
     10.0774    43.0000    96.0000    53.0000
      20  31      1895     1895.0  Left-choroid-plexus               54.4754   
     12.4270    24.0000    96.0000    72.0000
      21  41    188053   188053.0  Right-Cerebral-White-Matter      101.6959    
     7.7683    38.0000   122.0000    84.0000
      22  42    216751   216751.0  Right-Cerebral-Cortex             73.3417    
     9.8270    24.0000   106.0000    82.0000
      23  43      9286     9286.0  Right-Lateral-Ventricle           39.9627   
     11.6894    21.0000    93.0000    72.0000
      24  44       246      246.0  Right-Inf-Lat-Vent                50.3990   
     10.5551    27.0000    78.0000    51.0000
      25  46     11000    11000.0  Right-Cerebellum-White-Matter     87.6621    
     6.5420    44.0000   108.0000    64.0000
      26  47     36257    36257.0  Right-Cerebellum-Cortex           65.1387   
     10.4182    21.0000    94.0000    73.0000
      27  49      6546     6546.0  Right-Thalamus-Proper             97.0832    
     8.3261    54.0000   114.0000    60.0000
      28  50      3700     3700.0  Right-Caudate                     84.7295    
     8.0259    48.0000   116.0000    68.0000
      29  51      4879     4879.0  Right-Putamen                     92.2331    
     5.6211    64.0000   111.0000    47.0000
      30  52      1459     1459.0  Right-Pallidum                   104.8717    
     3.4972    88.0000   114.0000    26.0000
      31  53      3925     3925.0  Right-Hippocampus                 78.0625    
     7.5244    49.0000   107.0000    58.0000
      32  54      1406     1406.0  Right-Amygdala                    79.3659    
     6.0069    55.0000   107.0000    52.0000
      33  58       604      604.0  Right-Accumbens-area              88.0638    
     5.7372    60.0000   108.0000    48.0000
      34  60      3824     3824.0  Right-VentralDC                  100.9456   
     10.2128    47.0000   113.0000    66.0000
      35  62        72       72.0  Right-vessel                      69.6552    
     6.7526    55.0000    84.0000    29.0000
      36  63      1781     1781.0  Right-choroid-plexus              56.6733   
     10.7892    27.0000    93.0000    66.0000
      37  72        12       12.0  5th-Ventricle                     63.1875    
     6.7352    52.0000    75.0000    23.0000
      38  77      1148     1148.0  WM-hypointensities                78.2284   
     11.3100    44.0000   109.0000    65.0000
      39  78         0        0.0  Left-WM-hypointensities            0.0000    
     0.0000     0.0000     0.0000     0.0000
      40  79         0        0.0  Right-WM-hypointensities           0.0000    
     0.0000     0.0000     0.0000     0.0000
      41  80        28       28.0  non-WM-hypointensities            65.2750   
     11.5603    45.0000    89.0000    44.0000
      42  81         0        0.0  Left-non-WM-hypointensities        0.0000    
     0.0000     0.0000     0.0000     0.0000
      43  82         0        0.0  Right-non-WM-hypointensities       0.0000    
     0.0000     0.0000     0.0000     0.0000
      44  85       344      344.0  Optic-Chiasm                      85.2781   
     19.9109    32.0000   116.0000    84.0000
      45 251       700      700.0  CC_Posterior                     111.7594    
     8.1882    77.0000   119.0000    42.0000
      46 252       319      319.0  CC_Mid_Posterior                 104.1261   
     12.7185    65.0000   119.0000    54.0000
      47 253       325      325.0  CC_Central                       107.0531    
     9.7545    73.0000   119.0000    46.0000
      48 254       348      348.0  CC_Mid_Anterior                  106.5294    
     9.0198    80.0000   119.0000    39.0000
      49 255       752      752.0  CC_Anterior                      107.1329    
     9.3344    65.0000   120.0000    55.0000


     2011/10/25 Bruce Fischl <fischl@nmr.mgh.harvard.edu>
          can you send us an example of one that is way off?

     On Tue, 25 Oct 2011, Gergely Orsi wrote:

          Dear Bruce and others,

          We have just ran into strange ICV volumes.

          For all our 100+ subjets, the total icv is around 1500cm3 
          (around 1300-1700).

          For the new group (only 7 subjects) the average ICV is
          around 1200  (ranging from 900-1500).

          This is almost microcephalia, but they are normal.

          If we take a look at the brainseg volume or brain mask
          volumes they are larger than the total ICV (for e.g.
          subject 5 has brainmaskvol: 1440; brainseg
          vol: 1021; ICV 1036)

          This is not right. It's kind'a strange that someone has
          bigger brain than skull :)

          I was using freesurfer 4.5 for both groups.


          Do you have any idea what did I miss?

          Thanks,

          Gergo







          2011/10/3 Bruce Fischl <fischl@nmr.mgh.harvard.edu>
               The stuff outside the pial surface won't affect
          things, which is one of the reasons we prefer the
          surface-based measured of cortical
               morphometry.

               Similarly, we don't use the surface-based stuff in
          the hippocampus, so you should be all set (since many of
          the cortical assumptions aren't
               valid there)

               cheers
               Bruce



          On Mon, 3 Oct 2011, Gergely Orsi wrote:

               Dear Freesurfers!!

               I've encountered two strange segmentation "errors",
          if they are errors at
               all.



               Please see the attached fs.png:

               You can see that there are excess pial tissues on the
          superior part of the
               brain. The pial surface is
               defined correctly and the excess pial tissue is
          outside the red line yet it
               is coloured pink. My question, is :

               Does this have any impact on the results?


               The second is related to the hippocampus.

               Please see the attached fs2.png:

               The pial surface around the hippocampus looks a bit
          weird.
               It actually discards 1/3 of the hippocampus (it is
          outside the red line).

               Do you have any suggestions regarding the two
          problems.

               I'm using FS 4.5 on several 64bit linux
          distributions.


               --
               Gergely Orsi
               biologist - research associate
               Diagnostic Center of Pécs
               H-7623 Pécs, Rét str. 2.
               Tel.: 0036-70-3174676
               E-mail: gergo.orsi@gmail.com




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          --
          Gergely Orsi
          biologist - research associate
          Diagnostic Center of Pécs
          H-7623 Pécs, Rét str. 2.
          Tel.: 0036-70-3174676
          E-mail: gergo.orsi@gmail.com




     --
     Gergely Orsi
     biologist - research associate
     Diagnostic Center of Pécs
     H-7623 Pécs, Rét str. 2.
     Tel.: 0036-70-3174676
     E-mail: gergo.orsi@gmail.com




--
Gergely Orsi
biologist - research associate
Diagnostic Center of Pécs
H-7623 Pécs, Rét str. 2.
Tel.: 0036-70-3174676
E-mail: gergo.orsi@gmail.com




--
Gergely Orsi
biologist - research associate
Diagnostic Center of Pécs
H-7623 Pécs, Rét str. 2.
Tel.: 0036-70-3174676
E-mail: gergo.orsi@gmail.com




--
Gergely Orsi
biologist - research associate
Diagnostic Center of Pécs
H-7623 Pécs, Rét str. 2.
Tel.: 0036-70-3174676
E-mail: gergo.orsi@gmail.com