Ventricular volume (VV) is a widely used structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) biomarker in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) research. Abnormal enlargements of VV can be detected before clinically significant memory decline. However, VV does not pinpoint the details of subregional ventricular expansions. Here we introduce a ventricular morphometry analysis system (VMAS) that generates a whole connected 3D ventricular shape model and encodes a great deal of ventricular surface deformation information that is inaccessible by VV. VMAS contains an automated segmentation approach and surface-based multivariate morphometry statistics. We applied VMAS to two independent datasets of cognitively unimpaired (CU) groups. To our knowledge, it is the first work to detect ventricular abnormalities that distinguish normal aging subjects from those who imminently progress to clinically significant memory decline. Significant bilateral ventricular morphometric differences were first shown in 38 members of the Arizona APOE cohort, which included 18 CU participants subsequently progressing to the clinically significant memory decline within 2 years after baseline visits (progressors), and 20 matched CU participants with at least 4 years of post-baseline cognitive stability (non-progressors). VMAS also detected significant differences in bilateral ventricular morphometry in 44 Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) subjects (18 CU progressors vs. 26 CU non-progressors) with the same inclusion criterion. Experimental results demonstrated that the ventricular anterior horn regions were affected bilaterally in CU progressors, and more so on the left. VMAS may track disease progression at subregional levels and measure the effects of pharmacological intervention at a preclinical stage.

心室容积（VV）是阿尔茨海默氏病（AD）研究中广泛使用的结构磁共振成像（MRI）生物标志物。在临床上显着的记忆力下降之前，可以检测到VV异常增大。但是，VV并未指出局部区域性心室扩张的细节。在这里，我们介绍了一种心室形态分析系统（VMAS），该系统生成一个完整的连接的3D心室形状模型，并对VV无法访问的大量心室表面变形信息进行编码。VMAS包含自动分割方法和基于表面的多元形态统计数据。我们将VMAS应用于认知能力受损（CU）组的两个独立数据集。据我们所知，检测心室异常是区分正常衰老受试者和即将发展为临床上显着记忆衰退的受试者的第一项工作。显着的双侧心室形态学差异首先显示在38个成员中亚利桑那州APOE队列，其中18名CU参与者随后在基线就诊后2年内进展为临床上显着的记忆力下降（进展者），以及20名相匹配的CU参与者，其基线后认知稳定性至少为4年（非进展者）。VMAS还以相同的纳入标准在44名阿尔茨海默氏病神经影像学倡议（ADNI）受试者（18 CU进行者与26 CU非进行者）中检测到了双侧心室形态的显着差异。实验结果表明，在CU进行者中，双侧室前角区域受到影响，左侧则更多。VMAS可以在次区域水平跟踪疾病进展，并在临床前阶段评估药物干预的效果。