A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Test-retest reliability of diffusion tensor imaging scalars in 5-year-olds
Authors: Rosberg Aylin, Tuulari Jetro J, Kumpulainen Venla, Lukkarinen Minna, Pulli Elmo P, Silver Eero, Copeland Anni, Saukko Ekaterina, Saunavaara Jani, Lewis John D, Karlsson Linnea, Karlsson Hasse, Merisaari Harri
Publisher: WILEY
Publication year: 2022
Journal: Human Brain Mapping
Journal name in source: HUMAN BRAIN MAPPING
Journal acronym: HUM BRAIN MAPP
Volume: 43
Issue: 16
First page : 4984
Last page: 4994
Number of pages: 11
ISSN: 1065-9471
eISSN: 1097-0193
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.26064
Web address : http://dx.doi.org/10.1002%2Fhbm.26064
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/176586914
Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) has provided great insights into the microstructural features of the developing brain. However, DTI images are prone to several artifacts and the reliability of DTI scalars is of paramount importance for interpreting and generalizing the findings of DTI studies, especially in the younger population. In this study, we investigated the intrascan test-retest repeatability of four DTI scalars: fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), axial diffusivity (AD), and radial diffusivity (RD) in 5-year-old children (N = 67) with two different data preprocessing approaches: a volume censoring pipeline and an outlier replacement pipeline. We applied a region of interest (ROI) and a voxelwise analysis after careful quality control, tensor fitting and tract-based spatial statistics. The data had three subsets and each subset included 31, 32, or 33 directions thus a total of 96 unique uniformly distributed diffusion encoding directions per subject. The repeatability of DTI scalars was evaluated with intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC(3,1)) and the variability between test and retest subsets. The results of both pipelines yielded good to excellent (ICC(3,1) > 0.75) reliability for most of the ROIs and an overall low variability (<10%). In the voxelwise analysis, FA and RD had higher ICC(3,1) values compared to AD and MD and the variability remained low (<12%) across all scalars. Our results suggest high intrascan repeatability in pediatric DTI and lend confidence to the use of the data in future cross-sectional and longitudinal studies.
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