Structural assessment of thalamus morphology in brain disorders: A review and recommendation of thalamic nucleus segmentation and shape analysis

• Published in: Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews Vol. 131; pp. 466 - 478
• Main Authors: Boelens Keun, Jikke T., van Heese, Eva M., Laansma, Max A., Weeland, Cees J., de Joode, Niels T., van den Heuvel, Odile A., Gool, Jari K., Kasprzak, Selina, Bright, Joanna K., Vriend, Chris, van der Werf, Ysbrand D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Ltd 01-12-2021
• Subjects: Brain; Brain morphology; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods; Neuroimaging; Parkinson Disease; Parkinson’s disease; Shape analysis; Thalamus; Thalamus - diagnostic imaging; Volumetry; Neuroimaging; Thalamus; Shape analysis; Brain morphology; Volumetry; Parkinson’s disease
• ISSN: 0149-7634; 1873-7528
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.09.044

•Thalamic involvement is frequently reported in neurological and psychiatric disorders.•The functional diversity of thalamic nuclei warrants investigation of individual nuclei in relation to brain disorders.•Novel neuroimaging techniques to establish volumetric and shape changes of thalamic nuclei allow for localisation and understanding of the pathophysiology in vivo.•A combined method of thalamic subsegmentation and shape analysis offers a complementary view of disease-related changes.
The thalamus is a central brain structure crucially involved in cognitive, emotional, sensory, and motor functions and is often reported to be involved in the pathophysiology of neurological and psychiatric disorders. The functional subdivision of the thalamus warrants morphological investigation on the level of individual subnuclei. In addition to volumetric measures, the investigation of other morphological features may give additional insights into thalamic morphology. For instance, shape features offer a higher spatial resolution by revealing small, regional differences that are left undetected in volumetric analyses. In this review, we discuss the benefits and limitations of recent advances in neuroimaging techniques to investigate thalamic morphology in vivo, leading to our proposed methodology. This methodology consists of available pipelines for volume and shape analysis, focussing on the morphological features of volume, thickness, and surface area. We demonstrate this combined approach in a Parkinson’s disease cohort to illustrate their complementarity. Considering our findings, we recommend a combined methodology as it allows for more sensitive investigation of thalamic morphology in clinical populations.