Automated Diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis Lesions in Normal Appearing White Matter from Brain MRI

Abstract

Multiple Sclerosis defines a chronic condition which affects the optic nerve, brain, and newlinespinal cord. The axons in the human brain are enclosed by myelin sheaths and newlinedemyelination. Formation of lesions in brain nerves is a result of automatic falling of newlinemyelin sheaths. The process leads to Multiple Sclerosis (MS) which significantly impacts newlinethe younger adults population. MS has become one of the major chronic diseases that has newlineaffected over millions of people worldwide. The main behaviors of MS lesions are vision newlinedeficiency, balancing issues, weakness, concentration problems, memory problems, fatigue newlineand so on. The treatment and diagnosis of multiple sclerosis is very difficult because of newlinesignificant changes in the clinical features. Usually images are used for comparing the newlineprogression or prognosis of MS at different time periods. However, the process is time newlineconsuming and doctors have a very challenging task in identifying spatial distribution of newlinelesions, small lesions, lesion severity and its progression such as black, gray, and white newlineholes. newlineThe Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a type of imaging used in medicine that newlinedoes not involve the use of radioactive materials and delivers a higher resolution of tissue newlineimages. The MRI has been significantly used for diagnosis of various automatic brain newlinediseases segmentation including MS lesions segmentation. The MRI brings significant newlinebenefits to doctors in treating patients more effectively. The segmentation of MS lesions newlineplay a significant role in diagnosing the patient by understanding spatial behavior of newlinemultiple sclerosis in brain MRI. Moreover, building the automation process of newlinesegmentation of MS lesions is very much needed for studying it quantitatively and newlineunderstanding its progression and selecting the right treatment plans. Thus, segmentation newlineof MS lesions becomes a vital part for doctors to minimize the damage. Prior to the newlineavailability of automatic segmentation, the neuro radiologists used to segment the MS newlinelesions manually. Howeve