RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Toward Precision and Reproducibility of Diffusion Tensor Imaging: A Multicenter Diffusion Phantom and Traveling Volunteer Study
JF American Journal of Neuroradiology
JO Am. J. Neuroradiol.
FD American Society of Neuroradiology
DO 10.3174/ajnr.A5025
A1 E.M. Palacios
A1 A.J. Martin
A1 M.A. Boss
A1 F. Ezekiel
A1 Y.S. Chang
A1 E.L. Yuh
A1 M.J. Vassar
A1 D.M. Schnyer
A1 C.L. MacDonald
A1 K.L. Crawford
A1 A. Irimia
A1 A.W. Toga
A1 P. Mukherjee
YR 2016
UL http://www.ajnr.org/content/early/2016/12/22/ajnr.A5025.abstract
AB BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Precision medicine is an approach to disease diagnosis, treatment, and prevention that relies on quantitative biomarkers that minimize the variability of individual patient measurements. The aim of this study was to assess the intersite variability after harmonization of a high-angular-resolution 3T diffusion tensor imaging protocol across 13 scanners at the 11 academic medical centers participating in the Transforming Research and Clinical Knowledge in Traumatic Brain Injury multisite study.MATERIALS AND METHODS: Diffusion MR imaging was acquired from a novel isotropic diffusion phantom developed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and from the brain of a traveling volunteer on thirteen 3T MR imaging scanners representing 3 major vendors (GE Healthcare, Philips Healthcare, and Siemens). Means of the DTI parameters and their coefficients of variation across scanners were calculated for each DTI metric and white matter tract.RESULTS: For the National Institute of Standards and Technology diffusion phantom, the coefficients of variation of the apparent diffusion coefficient across the 13 scanners was <3.8% for a range of diffusivities from 0.4 to 1.1 × 10−6 mm2/s. For the volunteer, the coefficients of variations across scanners of the 4 primary DTI metrics, each averaged over the entire white matter skeleton, were all <5%. In individual white matter tracts, large central pathways showed good reproducibility with the coefficients of variation consistently below 5%. However, smaller tracts showed more variability, with the coefficients of variation of some DTI metrics reaching 10%.CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest the feasibility of standardizing DTI across 3T scanners from different MR imaging vendors in a large-scale neuroimaging research study.AbbreviationsADaxial diffusivity (units of 10−3 mm2/s)CoVcoefficient of variationFAfractional anisotropyMDmean diffusivity (units of 10−3 mm2/s)NISTNational Institute of Standards and TechnologyPVPpolyvinylpyrrolidoneRDradial diffusivity (units of 10−3 mm2/s)TBItraumatic brain injuryTRACK-TBITransforming Research and Clinical Knowledge in Traumatic Brain Injury