Longitudinal segmentation of age-related white matter hyperintensities

- A longitudinal WMH segmentation algorithm is proposed.
- Time points segmentation are constrained by an average data model.
- It is shown to be unbiased to time point ordering.
- A longitudinal lesion simulator is developed for validation.
- The longitudinal solution is more robust compared to cross-sectional methods.

Although white matter hyperintensities evolve in the course of ageing, few solutions exist to consider the lesion segmentation problem longitudinally. Based on an existing automatic lesion segmentation algorithm, a longitudinal extension is proposed. For evaluation purposes, a longitudinal lesion simulator is created allowing for the comparison between the longitudinal and the cross-sectional version in various situations of lesion load progression. Finally, applied to clinical data, the proposed framework demonstrates an increased robustness compared to available cross-sectional methods and findings are aligned with previously reported clinical patterns.

85