Glioblastoma Segmentation: Comparison of Three Different Software Packages

PLoS One. 2016 Oct 25;11(10):e0164891. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0164891. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

To facilitate a more widespread use of volumetric tumor segmentation in clinical studies, there is an urgent need for reliable, user-friendly segmentation software. The aim of this study was therefore to compare three different software packages for semi-automatic brain tumor segmentation of glioblastoma; namely BrainVoyagerTM QX, ITK-Snap and 3D Slicer, and to make data available for future reference. Pre-operative, contrast enhanced T1-weighted 1.5 or 3 Tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans were obtained in 20 consecutive patients who underwent surgery for glioblastoma. MRI scans were segmented twice in each software package by two investigators. Intra-rater, inter-rater and between-software agreement was compared by using differences of means with 95% limits of agreement (LoA), Dice's similarity coefficients (DSC) and Hausdorff distance (HD). Time expenditure of segmentations was measured using a stopwatch. Eighteen tumors were included in the analyses. Inter-rater agreement was highest for BrainVoyager with difference of means of 0.19 mL and 95% LoA from -2.42 mL to 2.81 mL. Between-software agreement and 95% LoA were very similar for the different software packages. Intra-rater, inter-rater and between-software DSC were ≥ 0.93 in all analyses. Time expenditure was approximately 41 min per segmentation in BrainVoyager, and 18 min per segmentation in both 3D Slicer and ITK-Snap. Our main findings were that there is a high agreement within and between the software packages in terms of small intra-rater, inter-rater and between-software differences of means and high Dice's similarity coefficients. Time expenditure was highest for BrainVoyager, but all software packages were relatively time-consuming, which may limit usability in an everyday clinical setting.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study

MeSH terms

  • Brain Neoplasms / diagnostic imaging*
  • Brain Neoplasms / surgery
  • Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods*
  • Glioblastoma / diagnostic imaging*
  • Glioblastoma / surgery
  • Humans
  • Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / methods*
  • Imaging, Three-Dimensional
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Software
  • User-Computer Interface

Grants and funding

OS and IR recieved funding from the Norwegian National Advisory Unit for Ultrasound and Image guided Therapy, http://www.usigt.no/. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.