# Segmenting the subarachnoid space and dura from clinical MRI

> **NIH NIH R21** · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $453,891

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
The subarachnoid space (SAS) and dura are critical to brain health, but the vast majority of
neuroimaging studies have been concerned solely with the gray matter and white matter of the brain
itself. The dura is a thin, tough membrane about 1 mm thick that lies just inside the skull protecting
the brain as well as the blood vessels and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). The paired dural membranes
separate to create the dural sinuses, which contain venous blood that drains blood as well as CSF
from the brain. The SAS is a variable-thickness space lying just inside the dura and outside the brain
and contains CSF, blood vessels, and arachnoid trabeculae, which loosely connect the arachnoid and
pia matter. Both structures are thought to provide mechanical protection for the brain and are
therefore important in modeling impacts that may lead to traumatic brain injury. As well, these
structures are critical for their roles in facilitating adequate blood and CSF flow, which are both critical
to brain health. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the key modality for imaging the brain, and one
of the first steps in a conventional neuroimage pipeline is to remove materials outside the brain,
including the SAS and dura (in a step called “skull-stripping” or “brain isolation”). This grant aims to
radically alter this practice and to recover this conventionally-ignored extra-axial material by providing
methods to segment both the SAS and dura and to characterize their geometries in health and
disease. Specifically, we will: 1) Develop and carry out a detailed manual delineation protocol for
labeling the SAS, the dural sinuses, and the epidural surface using multi-modal images; 2) Develop
an automated algorithm to segment the subarachnoid space, dural sinuses, and dura from
conventional T1-weighted and T2-weighted MRI; 3) Carry out pilot studies on subjects with normal
pressure hydrocephalus and multiple sclerosis as well as normally aging adults. The software
implementing these methods will be made freely available to the neuroscience community which will
enable a host of new studies involving the quantification of this extra-axial anatomy across many
neurological and neurodegenerative diseases.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10128985
- **Project number:** 1R21NS120286-01
- **Recipient organization:** JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Jerry L Prince
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $453,891
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-09-15 → 2023-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10128985

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10128985, Segmenting the subarachnoid space and dura from clinical MRI (1R21NS120286-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10128985. Licensed CC0.

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