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Cortical Thickness Estimation in Individuals With Cerebral Small Vessel Disease, Focal Atrophy, and Chronic Stroke Lesions

December 2020
Journal: Frontiers in Neuroscience
Co-Lead Authors: Miracle Ozzoude, Joel Ramirez

All Authors: Miracle Ozzoude, Joel Ramirez, Pradeep Reddy Raamana, Melissa F. Holmes, Kirstin Walker, Christopher J. M. Scott, Fuqiang Gao, Maged Goubran, Donna Kwan, Maria C. Tartaglia, Derek Beaton, Gustavo Saposnik, Ayman Hassan, Jane Lawrence-Dewar, Dariush Dowlatshahi, Stephen C. Strother, Sean Symons, Robert Bartha,  Richard H. Swartz, Sandra E. Black  and on behalf of the ONDRI Investigators

Local changes to cortical thickness – the outer layer of the cerebrum, a critical part of the brain – can indicate disease progression. For people living with neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular diseases (CVD), cortical thickness changes can be estimated using specialized neuroimaging software. However, the presence of stroke and cerebral small vessel disease pose significant challenges to estimate accuracy.

The main goal of this study was to examine a correction procedure developed for enhancing FreeSurfer’s (FS’s) cortical thickness estimation tool. The focus was on the most challenging MRIs obtained from participants with chronic stroke and CVD, with varying degrees of neurovascular lesions and brain atrophy.