Repeatability and variation of region-of-interest methods using quantitative diffusion tensor MR imaging of the brain

Repeatability and variation of region-of-interest methods using quantitative diffusion tensor MR imaging of the brain

BMC Medical Imaging, October 2012

23057584

Ullamari Hakulinen, Antti Brander, Pertti Ryymin, Juha Öhman, Seppo Soimakallio, Mika Helminen, Prasun Dastidar, Hannu Eskola

Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is increasingly used in various diseases as a clinical tool for assessing the integrity of the brain's white matter. Reduced fractional anisotropy (FA) and an increased apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) are nonspecific findings in most pathological processes affecting the brain's parenchyma. At present, there is no gold standard for validating diffusion measures, which are dependent on the scanning protocols, methods of the softwares and observers. Therefore, the normal variation and repeatability effects on commonly-derived measures should be carefully examined.