Improved Diagnostic Process of Multiple Sclerosis Using Automated Detection and Selection Process in Magnetic Resonance Imaging

In this paper, we present a new method of displaying Magnetic Resonance (MR) images taken from Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients. We show that our method can potentially make the diagnostic process far more focused and concise. The method is implemented as an algorithm-based application, which automatically detects MS lesions and reduces the amount of reviewed images by 98% or more. In contrast to existing detection algorithms, our application utilizes five different types of MR images as well as the Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) standard, supporting a wide range of data sets. After images are selected for file type and relevant brain region, each image is subjected to four separate algorithms, the results of which are combined into a single displayed image for the use of the diagnosing physician.

[1]  H. Weiner,et al.  The challenge of multiple sclerosis: How do we cure a chronic heterogeneous disease? , 2009, Annals of neurology.

[2]  R. Linder,et al.  Computer-aided diagnosis of multiple sclerosis , 2009 .

[3]  Y. Ge Multiple sclerosis: the role of MR imaging. , 2006, AJNR. American journal of neuroradiology.

[4]  Farzad Towhidkhah,et al.  Fully automatic segmentation of multiple sclerosis lesions in brain MR FLAIR images using adaptive mixtures method and markov random field model , 2008, Comput. Biol. Medicine.

[5]  Hervé Delingette,et al.  Automatic Detection and Segmentation of Evolving Processes in 3D Medical Images: Application to Multiple Sclerosis , 1999, IPMI.

[6]  A. Compston,et al.  Multiple sclerosis. , 2002, Lancet.

[7]  M Rovaris,et al.  Detection of multiple sclerosis lesions using EPI-FLAIR images. , 2000, Magnetic resonance imaging.

[8]  Daisuke Yamamoto,et al.  Computer-Aided Diagnosis Systems for Brain Diseases in Magnetic Resonance Images , 2009, Algorithms.

[9]  D. Louis Collins,et al.  Review of automatic segmentation methods of multiple sclerosis white matter lesions on conventional magnetic resonance imaging , 2013, Medical Image Anal..

[10]  Jeffrey A. Cohen,et al.  Diagnostic criteria for multiple sclerosis: 2010 Revisions to the McDonald criteria , 2011, Annals of neurology.

[11]  Colin Studholme,et al.  BTK: An open-source toolkit for fetal brain MR image processing , 2013, Comput. Methods Programs Biomed..

[12]  À. Rovira,et al.  Magnetic resonance monitoring of lesion evolution in multiple sclerosis , 2013, Therapeutic advances in neurological disorders.

[13]  Erlend Hodneland,et al.  Automated approaches for analysis of multimodal MRI acquisitions in a study of cognitive aging , 2012, Comput. Methods Programs Biomed..

[14]  Christian Confavreux,et al.  The clinical epidemiology of multiple sclerosis. , 2008, Neuroimaging clinics of North America.

[15]  Bernhard Hemmer,et al.  An automated tool for detection of FLAIR-hyperintense white-matter lesions in Multiple Sclerosis , 2012, NeuroImage.

[16]  H. D. Cheng,et al.  Medical image processing , 2005, Inf. Sci..

[17]  J A Frank,et al.  MRI studies of multiple sclerosis: Implications for the natural history of the disease and for monitoring effectiveness of experimental therapies , 1996, Multiple sclerosis.

[18]  Matjaz Kukar,et al.  Image processing and machine learning for fully automated probabilistic evaluation of medical images , 2011, Comput. Methods Programs Biomed..

[19]  Chung-Ping Lo,et al.  Comparison of the 2010 and 2005 versions of the McDonald MRI criteria for dissemination-in-time in Taiwanese patients with classic multiple sclerosis , 2013, Journal of the Neurological Sciences.

[20]  M Filippi,et al.  Comparison of MR pulse sequences in the detection of multiple sclerosis lesions. , 1997, AJNR. American journal of neuroradiology.

[21]  Saurabh Jain,et al.  Automatic segmentation and volumetry of multiple sclerosis brain lesions from MR images , 2015, NeuroImage: Clinical.