Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Comparison of multi echo T2 relaxation and steady state approaches for myelin imaging in the central nervous system

Dvorak, Adam V. ; Ljungberg, Emil LU orcid ; Vavasour, Irene M. ; Lee, Lisa Eunyoung ; Abel, Shawna ; Li, David K. B. ; Traboulsee, Anthony ; Mackay, Alex L. and Kolind, Shannon H. (2021) In Scientific Reports 11. p.1-12
Abstract
The traditional approach for measuring myelin-associated water with quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) uses multi-echo T2 relaxation data to calculate the myelin water fraction (MWF). A fundamentally different approach, abbreviated “mcDESPOT”, uses a more efficient steady-state acquisition to generate an equivalent metric (fM). Although previous studies have demonstrated inherent instability and bias in the complex mcDESPOT analysis procedure, fM has often been used as a surrogate for MWF. We produced and compared multivariate atlases of MWF and fM in healthy human brain and cervical spinal cord (available online) and compared their ability to detect multiple sclerosis pathology. A significant bias was found in all regions (p  ... (More)
The traditional approach for measuring myelin-associated water with quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) uses multi-echo T2 relaxation data to calculate the myelin water fraction (MWF). A fundamentally different approach, abbreviated “mcDESPOT”, uses a more efficient steady-state acquisition to generate an equivalent metric (fM). Although previous studies have demonstrated inherent instability and bias in the complex mcDESPOT analysis procedure, fM has often been used as a surrogate for MWF. We produced and compared multivariate atlases of MWF and fM in healthy human brain and cervical spinal cord (available online) and compared their ability to detect multiple sclerosis pathology. A significant bias was found in all regions (p   ~ 10%, the relationship broke down and fM no longer increased in tandem with MWF. For multiple sclerosis patients, MWF and fM Z score maps showed overlapping areas of low Z score and similar trends between patients and brain regions, although those of fM generally had greater spatial extent and magnitude of severity. These results will guide future choice of myelin-sensitive quantitative MRI and improve interpretation of studies using either myelin imaging approach. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
in
Scientific Reports
volume
11
article number
1369
pages
1 - 12
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • scopus:85099481160
ISSN
2045-2322
DOI
10.1038/s41598-020-80585-7
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
5ae1ca21-acbb-426e-a605-366b8fc58301
date added to LUP
2023-05-01 14:17:36
date last changed
2023-05-02 07:46:51
@article{5ae1ca21-acbb-426e-a605-366b8fc58301,
  abstract     = {{The traditional approach for measuring myelin-associated water with quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) uses multi-echo T2 relaxation data to calculate the myelin water fraction (MWF). A fundamentally different approach, abbreviated “mcDESPOT”, uses a more efficient steady-state acquisition to generate an equivalent metric (fM). Although previous studies have demonstrated inherent instability and bias in the complex mcDESPOT analysis procedure, fM has often been used as a surrogate for MWF. We produced and compared multivariate atlases of MWF and fM in healthy human brain and cervical spinal cord (available online) and compared their ability to detect multiple sclerosis pathology. A significant bias was found in all regions (p   ~ 10%, the relationship broke down and fM no longer increased in tandem with MWF. For multiple sclerosis patients, MWF and fM Z score maps showed overlapping areas of low Z score and similar trends between patients and brain regions, although those of fM generally had greater spatial extent and magnitude of severity. These results will guide future choice of myelin-sensitive quantitative MRI and improve interpretation of studies using either myelin imaging approach.}},
  author       = {{Dvorak, Adam V. and Ljungberg, Emil and Vavasour, Irene M. and Lee, Lisa Eunyoung and Abel, Shawna and Li, David K. B. and Traboulsee, Anthony and Mackay, Alex L. and Kolind, Shannon H.}},
  issn         = {{2045-2322}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{01}},
  pages        = {{1--12}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{Scientific Reports}},
  title        = {{Comparison of multi echo T2 relaxation and steady state approaches for myelin imaging in the central nervous system}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-80585-7}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/s41598-020-80585-7}},
  volume       = {{11}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}