Fully automated atlas-based MR imaging volumetry in Huntington disease, compared with manual volumetry.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The atrophy of the caudate is considered the hallmark of HD-associated neurodegeneration and has high potential as a biomarker in structural MR imaging. This study aimed at comparing automated and manual caudate volumetry. MATERIALS AND METHODS In this cross-sectional volumetric study in 40 patients with HD and 30 healthy controls, a fully automated caudate measurement by ABV was used for the first time in HD and was directly compared with manual delineation as the generally accepted criterion standard of volumetry. RESULTS It could be shown that both techniques were able to separate patients and controls to a similar degree. The differences between the 2 volumetric measurements ranged within the limits of agreement; the systematically lower values by manual volumetry were caused by the different assessment of the dorsal caudate tail, which is hard to delineate manually. CONCLUSIONS ABV may be used instead of manual volumetry to quantify caudate volume loss. Additionally, the ABV technique has the advantage of being much faster, is less laborious, and is free of a subjective region-of interest definition. ABV might serve as a tool in potential future clinical trials of disease-modifying treatments in HD.