Effects of method and MRI slice thickness on entorhinal cortex volumetry

Abstract

We assessed the effect of the method of analysis and the MRI slice thickness on entorhinal cortex volumetry. AT1 gradient echo 3D volumetric acquisition was reformatted into different slice thickness and analyzed by edge-tracing.We performed two different forms of analysis of imageswith 3mm slice thickness: edge-tracing and pixel by pixel. There was difference among the volumes obtained fromdifferent slice thickness (p < 0.001), and also difference between the two differentmethods of analysis (p < 0.05).The use of thick slices is time saving, but volumes are linearly increased; different methods of segmentation also yields different values.The formof volumetric analysis of the entorhinal cortex shouldbe evaluated in advance to prevent false estimates in longitudinal studies.