Brain lesion counts on MRI scans can now be determined with pinpoint precision thanks to an AI tool developed at UT Health San Antonio. Once implemented in clinical settings, the AI tool will aid neuroradiologists in making more accurate diagnoses of brain diseases in their patients at an earlier stage.
Habes and coworkers from eight institutions demonstrated the AI tool’s utility in identifying and counting enlarged perivascular spaces (ePVS’s) in a study published in JAMA. Cerebrospinal fluid-filled spaces around arteries and veins are an indicator of cerebral small-vessel disease, which can cause stroke and dementia.
A total of 1,026 people who took part in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) were followed up on.
Habes and colleagues investigated cerebral perivascular enlargement and published their findings in JAMA.
Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers (ADRCs) are U.S. National Institute on Aging-Designated Centers of Excellence, and the researchers hope that their artificial intelligence tool for counting brain lesions will be further investigated there. The Biggs Institute at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley have joined forces to create the South Texas ADRC, the only facility of its kind in the Lone Star State.
“The findings of this study suggest a high burden of enlarged perivascular spaces in the basal ganglia and thalamus may represent underlying vascular brain pathology,” the authors of the study wrote in their report.
