A MS-lesion pattern discrimination plot based on geostatistics

Marschallinger, Robert; Schmidt, Paul; Hofmann, Peter; Zimmer, Claus; Atkinson, Peter M.; Sellner, Johann; Trinka, Eugen und Mühlau, Mark (2016): A MS-lesion pattern discrimination plot based on geostatistics. In: Brain and Behavior, Vol. 6, No. 3, e00430

Abstract

IntroductionA geostatistical approach to characterize MS-lesion patterns based on their geometrical properties is presented. MethodsA dataset of 259 binary MS-lesion masks in MNI space was subjected to directional variography. A model function was fit to express the observed spatial variability in x, y, z directions by the geostatistical parameters Range and Sill. ResultsParameters Range and Sill correlate with MS-lesion pattern surface complexity and total lesion volume. A scatter plot of ln(Range) versus ln(Sill), classified by pattern anisotropy, enables a consistent and clearly arranged presentation of MS-lesion patterns based on geometry: the so-called MS-Lesion Pattern Discrimination Plot. ConclusionsThe geostatistical approach and the graphical representation of results are considered efficient exploratory data analysis tools for cross-sectional, follow-up, and medication impact analysis.

• Item Type: Journal article
• Faculties: Mathematics, Computer Science and Statistics > Statistics
• Subjects: 500 Science > 510 Mathematics
• ISSN: 2162-3279
• Language: English