Automatic segmentation and therapy follow-up of cerebral glioma in diffusion-tensor images

Abstract

Gliomas are the most common primary brain tumors, with a typical infiltrative growth pattern along white matter (WM) fibers. Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) is sensitive to the directional diffusion of water along WM tracts, which allows the identification of subtle peritumoral glioma infiltration that are not apparent on conventional Magnetic Resonance imaging. The aim of this study was to characterize pathological and healthy tissue in DTI datasets by statistical texture analysis, developing a Computer Assisted Detection (CAD) technique for cerebral glioma. This system, coupled to voxel-based tumor evolution analysis, could allow objective tumor identification and qualitative and quantitative measurements in the follow-up of patients during chemotherapy. In this paper, preliminary results of tumor segmentation and evolution analysis are shown.