Volumetry of Selected Brain Regions-Can We Compare MRI Examinations of Different Manufacturers and Field Strengths?

Abstract

Purpose: Magnetic Resonance Imaging based brain segmentation and volumetry has become an important tool in clinical routine and research. However the impact of the used hardware is only barely investigated. This study aims to assess the influence of scanner manufacturer, field strength and head-coil on volumetry results.

Methods: 10 healthy subjects (27.4 ± 1.71 years) were prospectively examined in a Philips Achieva 1.5T, Philips Ingenia CX 3T, Siemens MAGNETOM Aera 1.5T and Siemens MAGNETOM Vida 3T, the latter equipped with three different head coils, within one day. Brain volumetry of the whole brain, total white and grey matter, the cortical grey matter of the supratentorial lobes as well as regions important for the differentiation of neurodegenerative diseases of the dementia and movement disorder spectrum and the ventricular system was performed using the CE-certified software mdbrain by mediaire (Berlin, Germany). Both raw volumetry results and percentile allocation provided by the software were analysed.

Results: This study reveals significantly different volumetry results for all examined brain regions beside the ventricular system between the different MRI devices but comparable results between the different head coils. When examining the percentile allocation provided by used software, the Intraclass-Correlation-Coefficient (ICC) values were even lower than the raw volume ICC values ranging from poor to excellent correlation.

Conclusion: The present study reveals highly relevant results that need to be considered both in clinical routine when analysing follow-up examinations from different scanner types and clinical research, especially when planning longitudinal and/or multicentre studies.

Keywords: Automatic Brain Segmentation; Brain Volumetry; MRI Hardware; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Neuroimaging.

Fig. 1

Clinically relevant slices derived from mdbrain. Seven different slices of a 3D-T1 image divided into five groups. These slices are important for visual evaluation of brain atrophy signs

Fig. 2

Example of automated segmentation performed by mdbrain. The volumetric results of the different brain areas are provided by the software in a table (not shown)

Fig. 3

Example of schematic overview of the brain and ventricular system from different angles. In case of aberration from the normal values and percentiles, areas are coloured in yellow (more than two standard deviations) or red (more than four standard deviations)

Fig. 4

Results of post-hoc analysis between the different MRI-scanners. Vida-20, Vida-32 Fig. 2: Results of post-hoc analysis between the different MRI-scanners for a whole brain volume, b total white matter volume, c total grey matter volume and d volume of the cerebral cortex. Vida-20, Vida-32 and Vida-64 represent the results of Siemens MAGNETOM Vida 3T with the 20-, 32- or 64-channel receiver coil respectively.ns not significant. *: p < 0.05; **: p < 0.005; ***: p < 0.0005; ****: p < 0.0001

Fig. 5

Results of post-hoc analysis between the different MRI-scanners. Vida-20, Vida-32 Fig. 2: Results of post-hoc analysis between the different MRI-scanners for a the right frontal lobe, b the left frontal lobe, c the right parietal lobe, d the left parietal lobe, e the right occipital lobe, f the left occipital lobe, g the right temporal lobe and h the left temporal lobe. Vida-20, Vida-32 and Vida-64 represent the results of Siemens MAGNETOM Vida 3T with the 20-, 32- or 64-channel receiver coil respectively. ns not significant. *: p < 0.05; **: p < 0.005; ***: p < 0.0005; ****: p < 0.0001

Fig. 6

Results of post-hoc analysis between the different MRI-scanners. Vida-20, Vida-32 Fig. 2: Results of post-hoc analysis between the different MRI-scanners for a the right hippocampus, b the left hippocampus, c the right parahippocampal gyrus, d the left parahippocampal gyrus, e the right entorhinal cortex and f the left entorhinal cortex. Vida-20, Vida-32 and Vida-64 represent the results of Siemens MAGNETOM Vida 3T with the 20-, 32- or 64-channel receiver coil respectively. ns not significant. *: p < 0.05; **: p < 0.005; ***: p < 0.0005; ****: p < 0.0001

Fig. 7

Results of post-hoc analysis between the different MRI-scanners. Vida-20, Vida-32 Fig. 2: Results of post-hoc analysis between the different MRI-scanners for a the mesencephalon, b the pons, c the cerebellar cortex. Vida-20, Vida-32 and Vida-64 represent the results of Siemens MAGNETOM Vida 3T with the 20-, 32- or 64-channel receiver coil respectively. ns not significant. *: p < 0.05; **: p < 0.005; ***: p < 0.0005; ****: p < 0.0001

Fig. 8

Results of post-hoc analysis between the different MRI-scanners for a the right lateral ventricle, b the left lateral ventricle, c the third ventricle and d the fourth ventricle. Vida-20, Vida-32 and Vida-64 represent the results of Siemens MAGNETOM Vida 3T with the 20-, 32- or 64-channel receiver coil respectively. No comparison bars are displayed as none of the post-hoc analyses yielded a statistic significant result