| Author |
Palacios, E. M. Martin, A. J. Boss, M. A. Ezekiel, F. Chang, Y. S. Yuh, E. L. Vassar, M. J. Schnyer, D. M. MacDonald, C. L. Crawford, K. L. Irimia, A. Toga, A. W. Mukherjee, P. |
| Description |
Author Affiliation: Palacios EM ( From the Departments of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging (E.M.P., A.J.M., F.E., Y.S.C., E.L.Y., P.M.).); Martin AJ ( From the Departments of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging (E.M.P., A.J.M., F.E., Y.S.C., E.L.Y., P.M.).); Boss MA ( National Institute of Standards and Technology (M.A.B.), Boulder, Colorado.); Ezekiel F ( From the Departments of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging (E.M.P., A.J.M., F.E., Y.S.C., E.L.Y., P.M.).); Chang YS ( From the Departments of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging (E.M.P., A.J.M., F.E., Y.S.C., E.L.Y., P.M.).); Yuh EL ( From the Departments of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging (E.M.P., A.J.M., F.E., Y.S.C., E.L.Y., P.M.).); Vassar MJ ( Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Center (E.L.Y., M.J.V., P.M.), San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, San Francisco, California.); Schnyer DM ( Neurological Surgery and Brain and Spinal Injury Center (M.J.V.).); MacDonald CL ( Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Center (E.L.Y., M.J.V., P.M.), San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, San Francisco, California.); Crawford KL ( Department of Psychology (D.M.S.), University of Texas, Austin, Texas.); Irimia A ( Department of Neurological Surgery (C.L.M.), University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.); Toga AW ( Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute (K.L.C., A.I., A.W.T.), University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California.); Mukherjee P ( Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute (K.L.C., A.I., A.W.T.), University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California.) |
| Abstract |
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 mm /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. |
