GBM Volumetry using the 3D Slicer Medical Image Computing Platform
This work addresses the need for faster and less labor-intensive tumor volumetry in medical imaging for clinicians, but it is incremental as it applies an existing tool to a specific clinical task.
The study tackled the problem of measuring glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) tumor volume from MRI scans by comparing a semi-automated method using the 3D Slicer platform's GrowCut module against manual slice-by-slice segmentation, finding that the Slicer method was 61% faster on average and achieved a Dice Similarity Coefficient of 88.43% with a Hausdorff Distance of 2.32 mm.
Volumetric change in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) over time is a critical factor in treatment decisions. Typically, the tumor volume is computed on a slice-by-slice basis using MRI scans obtained at regular intervals. (3D)Slicer - a free platform for biomedical research - provides an alternative to this manual slice-by-slice segmentation process, which is significantly faster and requires less user interaction. In this study, 4 physicians segmented GBMs in 10 patients, once using the competitive region-growing based GrowCut segmentation module of Slicer, and once purely by drawing boundaries completely manually on a slice-by-slice basis. Furthermore, we provide a variability analysis for three physicians for 12 GBMs. The time required for GrowCut segmentation was on an average 61% of the time required for a pure manual segmentation. A comparison of Slicer-based segmentation with manual slice-by-slice segmentation resulted in a Dice Similarity Coefficient of 88.43 +/- 5.23% and a Hausdorff Distance of 2.32 +/- 5.23 mm.