Research progress of surface-based morphometry in the central nervous system

Surface-based morphometry (SBM) is a digital image processing technology for calculating brain structural magnetic resonance image data and quantifying brain gray matter morphology by parameters such as thickness, surface area, volume, and curvature. SBM can detect the alteration in brain gray matter of various neurological diseases at different periods and severities, and of those who has normal appearance on conventional structural images. Thus, SBM plays an important role in the diagnosis, differential diagnosis, grading and study of pathophysiological mechanism of diseases. We reviewed the SBM application in the central nervous system diseases, such as idiopathic generalized epilepsy, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease, etc. (authors)