对比两种算法在婴儿脑影像中的分割效果，发现SynthSeg更准且影响后续形态分析结果。
Comparison of different segmentation algorithms on brain volume and fractal dimension in infant brain MRIs
- 用SynthSeg和SamSeg对比分割婴儿脑影像，以专家标注为金标准。
- SynthSeg平均骰率超0.8，体积估计偏差仅+4%；SamSeg则高估76%。
- 分割误差会显著影响分形维数结果，小差异需谨慎解读。
准确分割婴儿脑MRI对量化结构与复杂性发育变化至关重要。然而，持续的髓鞘化和组织对比度降低使得自动化分割尤为困难。本研究基于71例1-9月龄婴儿的Baby Open Brains（BOB）数据集，系统比较了SynthSeg与SamSeg两种方法在分割准确性及其对体积和分形维数（FD）估计的影响。使用骰率（Dice）、交并比（IoU）、95百分位豪斯多夫距离及归一化互信息评估性能。SynthSeg在所有指标上均优于SamSeg（主要区域平均骰率>0.8），其体积估计与人工参考值接近（平均偏差+4% [-28% - 71%]）。而SamSeg系统性高估脑室与全脑体积（平均+76% [-12% - 190%]）。分割精度随年龄提升，与髓鞘化导致组织对比增强一致。分形维数分析显示，SynthSeg与专家分割存在显著区域差异，贝兰德-阿尔特曼一致性分析表明，分割引起的FD变异超过多数发育队列报告的组间差异。体积与FD偏差在各结构间正相关，说明分割偏差直接影响FD估计。总体而言，SynthSeg在儿科MRI中提供最可靠的体积与FD结果，但体积与FD的小差异仍需警惕分割带来的不确定性。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Accurate segmentation of infant brain MRI is essential for quantifying developmental changes in structure and complexity. However, ongoing myelination and reduced tissue contrast make automated segmentation particularly challenging. This study systematically compared segmentation accuracy and its impact on volumetric and fractal dimension (FD) estimates in infant brain MRI using the Baby Open Brains (BOB) dataset (71 scans, 1-9 months). Two methods, SynthSeg and SamSeg, were evaluated against expert annotations using Dice, Intersection over Union, 95th-percentile Hausdorff distance, and Normalised Mutual Information. SynthSeg outperformed SamSeg across all quality metrics (mean Dice > 0.8 for major regions) and provided volumetric estimates closely matching the manual reference (mean +4% [-28% - 71%]). SamSeg systematically overestimated ventricular and whole-brain volumes (mean +76% [-12% - 190%]). Segmentation accuracy improved with age, consistent with increasing tissue contrast during myelination. Fractal dimension a(FD) nalyses revealed significant regional differences between SynthSeg and expert segmentations, and Bland-Altman limits of agreement indicated that segmentation-related FD variability exceeded most group differences reported in developmental cohorts. Volume and FD deviations were positively correlated across structures, indicating that segmentation bias directly affects FD estimation. Overall, SynthSeg provided the most reliable volumetric and FD results for paediatric MRI, yet small morphological differences in volume and FD should be interpreted with caution due to segmentation-related uncertainty.
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