Gradient nonlinearity effects on upper cervical spinal cord area measurement from 3D T1 -weighted brain MRI acquisitions

Nico Papinutto; Rohit Bakshi; Antje Bischof; Peter A Calabresi; Eduardo Caverzasi; R Todd Constable; Esha Datta; Gina Kirkish; Govind Nair; Jiwon Oh; Daniel Pelletier; Dzung L Pham; Daniel S Reich; William Rooney; Snehashis Roy; Daniel Schwartz; Russell T Shinohara; Nancy L Sicotte; William A Stern; Ian Tagge; Shahamat Tauhid; Subhash Tummala; Roland G Henry; North American Imaging in Multiple Sclerosis Cooperative(NAIMS)

doi:10.1002/mrm.26776

Gradient nonlinearity effects on upper cervical spinal cord area measurement from 3D T₁ -weighted brain MRI acquisitions

Magn Reson Med. 2018 Mar;79(3):1595-1601. doi: 10.1002/mrm.26776. Epub 2017 Jun 15.

Authors

Nico Papinutto¹, Rohit Bakshi², Antje Bischof¹, Peter A Calabresi³, Eduardo Caverzasi^{1

4}, R Todd Constable⁵, Esha Datta¹, Gina Kirkish¹, Govind Nair⁶, Jiwon Oh^{3

7}, Daniel Pelletier⁸, Dzung L Pham⁹, Daniel S Reich⁶, William Rooney¹⁰, Snehashis Roy⁹, Daniel Schwartz¹⁰, Russell T Shinohara¹¹, Nancy L Sicotte¹², William A Stern¹, Ian Tagge¹⁰, Shahamat Tauhid², Subhash Tummala², Roland G Henry^{1

13}; North American Imaging in Multiple Sclerosis Cooperative(NAIMS)¹⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.
² Department of Neurology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
³ Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
⁴ Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy.
⁵ Yale University, School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
⁶ Translational Neuroradiology Section, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
⁷ Department of Neurology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
⁸ Department of Neurology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
⁹ Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine, Henry M. Jackson Foundation, Bethesda, Maryland.
¹⁰ Advanced Imaging Research Center, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, USA.
¹¹ Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Informatics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
¹² Department of Neurology, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, USA.
¹³ Department of Radiology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA.
¹⁴ A complete list of the NAIMS participants is provided in the Acknowledgments section.

Abstract

Purpose: To explore (i) the variability of upper cervical cord area (UCCA) measurements from volumetric brain 3D T₁ -weighted scans related to gradient nonlinearity (GNL) and subject positioning; (ii) the effect of vendor-implemented GNL corrections; and (iii) easily applicable methods that can be used to retrospectively correct data.

Methods: A multiple sclerosis patient was scanned at seven sites using 3T MRI scanners with the same 3D T₁ -weighted protocol without GNL-distortion correction. Two healthy subjects and a phantom were additionally scanned at a single site with varying table positions. The 2D and 3D vendor-implemented GNL-correction algorithms and retrospective methods based on (i) phantom data fit, (ii) normalization with C2 vertebral body diameters, and (iii) the Jacobian determinant of nonlinear registrations to a template were tested.

Results: Depending on the positioning of the subject, GNL introduced up to 15% variability in UCCA measurements from volumetric brain T₁ -weighted scans when no distortion corrections were used. The 3D vendor-implemented correction methods and the three proposed methods reduced this variability to less than 3%.

Conclusions: Our results raise awareness of the significant impact that GNL can have on quantitative UCCA studies, and point the way to prospectively and retrospectively managing GNL distortions in a variety of settings, including clinical environments. Magn Reson Med 79:1595-1601, 2018. © 2017 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

Keywords: 3D T1-weighted brain MRI acquisitions; correction algorithms; gradient nonlinearity; spinal cord atrophy; upper cervical spinal cord area.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, N.I.H., Intramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Algorithms
Brain / diagnostic imaging*
Cervical Cord / diagnostic imaging*
Cervical Cord / pathology
Humans
Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / methods*
Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods*
Male
Middle Aged
Multiple Sclerosis / diagnostic imaging*
Nonlinear Dynamics
Phantoms, Imaging

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding