Journal
HUMAN BRAIN MAPPING
Volume 42, Issue 2, Pages 539-550Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/hbm.25234
Keywords
1 mm(3); FreeSurfer; hippocampal subfields; MRI; volumetry
Funding
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche [LONGVIE 2007]
- Alzheimer Society of Canada
- Alzheimer's Disease Research, a program of the BrightFocus Foundation
- Association France Alzheimer et maladies apparentees AAP 2013
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research [PJT-162292]
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada [RGPIN-2017-06178]
- Fondation Plan Alzheimer [Alzheimer Plan 2008-2012]
- National Institutes of Health [AG011230, AG034613, AG055121, AG056014, EB020062]
- Programme Hospitalier de Recherche Clinique [PHRCN 2011-A01493-38, PHRCN 2012 12-006-0347]
- Fondation Philippe Chatrier
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In recent years, in vivo MRI investigations of human hippocampal subfield volumes have increased due to the availability of automatic segmentation software. However, the majority of these studies use automatic segmentation on MRI scans with resolutions of approximately 1 x 1 x 1 mm(3), which is insufficient for visualizing the internal structure of the hippocampus. As a result, the findings of these studies are often contradictory and surprising, particularly regarding the involvement of hippocampal subfields in normal brain function, aging, and disease.
Spurred by availability of automatic segmentation software, in vivo MRI investigations of human hippocampal subfield volumes have proliferated in the recent years. However, a majority of these studies apply automatic segmentation to MRI scans with approximately 1 x 1 x 1 mm(3)resolution, a resolution at which the internal structure of the hippocampus can rarely be visualized. Many of these studies have reported contradictory and often neurobiologically surprising results pertaining to the involvement of hippocampal subfields in normal brain function, aging, and disease. In this commentary, we first outline our concerns regarding the utility and validity of subfield segmentation on 1 x 1 x 1 mm(3)MRI for volumetric studies, regardless of how images are segmented (i.e., manually or automatically). This image resolution is generally insufficient for visualizing the internal structure of the hippocampus, particularly the stratum radiatum lacunosum moleculare, which is crucial for valid and reliable subfield segmentation. Second, we discuss the fact that automatic methods that are employed most frequently to obtain hippocampal subfield volumes from 1 x 1 x 1 mm(3)MRI have not been validated against manual segmentation on such images. For these reasons, we caution against using volumetric measurements of hippocampal subfields obtained from 1 x 1 x 1 mm(3)images.
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