Comparative analysis of brain volumetric measurements between contrast-enhanced and non-contrast MRI images

Aniket Aman; Aaryaman Hoskote; Kshitij S Jadhav; Bharat Aggarwal

doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2025.138118

Comparative analysis of brain volumetric measurements between contrast-enhanced and non-contrast MRI images

Neurosci Lett. 2025 Jan 7:138118. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2025.138118. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Aniket Aman¹, Aaryaman Hoskote², Kshitij S Jadhav², Bharat Aggarwal³

Affiliations

¹ Max Super Speciality Hospital, Saket, New Delhi, India.
² Indian Institute of Technology - Bombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
³ Max Super Speciality Hospital, Saket, New Delhi, India. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 39788481
DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2025.138118

Abstract

Background: Clinical brain MRI scans, including contrast-enhanced (CE-MR) images, represent an underutilized resource for neuroscience research due to technical heterogeneity.

Purpose: To evaluate the reliability of morphometric measurements from CE-MR scans compared to non-contrast MR (NC-MR) scans in normal individuals.

Methods: T1-weighted CE-MR and NC-MR scans from 59 normal participants (aged 21-73 years) were compared using CAT12 and SynthSeg + segmentation tools. Volumetric measurements and age prediction efficacy were analyzed.

Results: SynthSeg + demonstrated high reliability (ICCs > 0.90) for most brain structures between CE-MR and NC-MR scans, with discrepancies in CSF and ventricular volumes. CAT12 showed inconsistent performance. Age prediction models using SynthSeg + yielded comparable results for both scan types.

Conclusion: Deep learning-based approaches like SynthSeg + can reliably process CE-MR scans for morphometric analysis, potentially broadening the application of clinically acquired CE-MR images in neuroimaging research.

Keywords: Age prediction; Brain morphometry; Contrast-enhanced MRI; Image segmentation; Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI); Volumetric analysis.