Comparing 3D Gyrification Index and area-independent curvature-based measures in quantifying neonatal brain folding

In this work we compare 3D Gyrification Index and our recently proposed area-independent curvature-based surface measures [26] for the in-vivo quantification of brain surface folding in clinically acquired neonatal MR image data. A meaningful comparison of gyrification across brains of different sizes and their subregions will only be possible through the quantification of folding with measures that are independent of the area of the region of analysis. This work uses a 3D implementation of the classical Gyrification Index, a 2D measure that quantifies folding based on the ratio of the inner and outer contours of the brain and which has been used to study gyral patterns in adults with schizophrenia, among other conditions. The new surface curvature-based measures and the 3D Gyrification Index were calculated on twelve premature infants (age 28-37 weeks) from which surfaces of cerebrospinal fluid/gray matter (CSF/GM) interface and gray matter/white matter (GM/WM) interface were extracted. Experimental results show that our measures better quantify folding on the CSF/GM interface than Gyrification Index, and perform similarly on the GM/WM interface.