Texture analysis of ultrahigh field T2-weighted MR images of the brain: Application to Huntington's disease

Purpose To develop a framework for quantitative detection of between‐group textural differences in ultrahigh field T2*‐weighted MR images of the brain. Materials and Methods MR images were acquired using a three‐dimensional (3D) T2*‐weighted gradient echo sequence on a 7 Tesla MRI system. The phase images were high‐pass filtered to remove phase wraps. Thirteen textural features were computed for both the magnitude and phase images of a region of interest based on 3D Gray‐Level Co‐occurrence Matrix, and subsequently evaluated to detect between‐group differences using a Mann‐Whitney U‐test. We applied the framework to study textural differences in subcortical structures between premanifest Huntington's disease (HD), manifest HD patients, and controls. Results In premanifest HD, four phase‐based features showed a difference in the caudate nucleus. In manifest HD, 7 magnitude‐based features showed a difference in the pallidum, 6 phase‐based features in the caudate nucleus, and 10 phase‐based features in the putamen. After multiple comparison correction, significant differences were shown in the putamen in manifest HD by two phase‐based features (both adjusted P values = 0.04). Conclusion This study provides the first evidence of textural heterogeneity of subcortical structures in HD. Texture analysis of ultrahigh field T2*‐weighted MR images can be useful for noninvasive monitoring of neurodegenerative diseases. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2014;39:633–640. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.