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Cited by 43Advanced Neuroimaging Techniques and ApplicationsFunctional Brain Connectivity StudiesAdvanced MRI Techniques and Applications

Reproducibility of tract‐based white matter microstructural measures using the ENIGMA ‐ DTI protocol

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Acheson, Ashley, Wijtenburg, S. Andrea, Rowland, Laura M., Winkler, Anderson, Mathias, Charles W., Hong, L. Elliot, Jahanshad, Neda, Patel, Binish +5 more·2017·Brain and Behavior
DOI 10.1002/brb3.615PMC PMC5318368
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Abstract

Background: In preparation for longitudinal analyses of white matter development in youths with family histories of substance use disorders ( FH +) or without such histories ( FH −), we examined the reproducibility and reliability of global and regional measures of fractional anisotropy ( FA ) values, measured using the Enhancing Neuro Imaging Genetics Through Meta Analysis ( ENIGMA )‐diffusion tensor imaging ( DTI ) protocol. Highly reliable measures are necessary to detect any subtle differences in brain development. Methods: First, we analyzed reproducibility data in a sample of 12 healthy young adults (ages 20–28) imaged three times within a week. Next, we calculated the same metrics in data collected 1‐year apart in the sample of 68 FH + and 21 FH − adolescents. This is a timeframe where within subject changes in white matter microstructure are small compared to between subject variance. Reproducibility was estimated by examining mean coefficients of variation ( MCV ), mean absolute differences ( MAD ), and intraclass correlations ( ICC ) for global and tract‐specific FA values. Results: We found excellent reproducibility for whole‐brain DTI ‐ FA values and most of the white matter tracts, except for the corticospinal tract and the fornix in both adults and youths. There was no significant effect of FH ‐group on reproducibility ( p = .4). Reproducibility metrics were not significantly different between adolescents and adults (all p > .2). In post hoc analyses, the reproducibility metrics for regional FA values showed a strong positive correlation ( r = .6) with the regional FA heritability measures previously reported by ENIGMA ‐ DTI . Conclusion: Overall, this study demonstrated an excellent reproducibility of ENIGMA ‐ DTI FA , positing it as viable analysis tools for longitudinal studies and other protocols that repeatedly assess white matter microstructure.

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  • Many large-scale multi-site DTI studies have obtained consistent results even when acquisition protocols across sites are not harmonized in advance.

    “Although many large-scale multi-site DTI studies have obtained consistent results even when acquisition protocols across sites are not harmonized in advance (Jahanshad et al., 2013; Kochunov et al., 2014; Acheson et al., 2017; Kelly et al., 2018), differences in dMRI acquisition parameters, including vendor, voxel size, and angular resolution, are known to affect derived dMRI measures (Alexander”

    From Diffusion MRI Indices and Their Relation to Cognitive Impairment in Brain Aging: The Updated Multi-protocol Approach in ADNI3 (2019) · cites this paper as Acheson et al., 2017

    The Discussion (page not specified in our copy) says ENIGMA-DTI was developed to homogenize measurements across diverse imaging protocols and reports a consistent heritability pattern in several large population studies. But this paper’s own reproducibility study used one scanner and the same acquisition protocol (Methods; Conclusions). It does not establish that many multi-site studies obtained consistent results without harmonizing acquisition protocols in advance. (LLM, conf=0.82)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • The CST ROI from the JHU WMPM atlas is limited to a small region in the inferior portion of the brain and has been shown to be the least reliable and reproducible ROI.

    “However, the CST ROI from the JHU WMPM atlas is limited to a small region in the inferior portion of the brain and has been shown to be the least reliable and reproducible ROI (Jahanshad et al., 2013; Acheson et al., 2017)”

    From Diffusion MRI Indices and Their Relation to Cognitive Impairment in Brain Aging: The Updated Multi-protocol Approach in ADNI3 (2019) · cites this paper as Acheson et al., 2017

    The Methods (page not provided) say the tract ROIs were derived from the JHU white matter parcellation atlas, and the Results report relatively poor CST reproducibility. But the paper does not describe the CST ROI as a small region confined to the inferior brain, and it does not rank CST as the least reproducible: in the adolescent results, the fornix had higher variance and a lower ICC. (LLM, conf=0.90)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

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Authors
Acheson, A., Wijtenburg, S. A., Rowland, L. M., Winkler, A., Mathias, C. W., Hong, L. E., Jahanshad, N., Patel, B., Thompson, P. M., McGuire, S. A., Sherman, P. M., Kochunov, P., & Dougherty, D. M.
Affiliations
  • The University of Texas at San Antonio Health Science Center (US)
  • University of Maryland, Baltimore (US)
  • Yale University (US)
  • University of Southern California (US)
  • 59th Medical Wing (US)
Corresponding author
Acheson, Ashley
ORCID
Venue
Brain and Behavior
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2017-01-14
Volume
7
Issue
2
Pages
e00615-e00615
ISSN
  • 2157-9032 (ISSN-L)
  • 2162-3279
DOI
10.1002/brb3.615
PMC
PMC5318368
OpenAlex
W2574997936
Cited by
43
References
43
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 10 · 2017: 5
FWCI
4.83
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Brain and Behavior (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • ScholarWorks @ UTRGV (The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Open Repository and Bibliography (University of Liège) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders
  • National Institute on Drug Abuse
  • National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering
  • National Institute of Mental Health (R01DA026868, R01DA027680, R01DA033997, U01MH108148, R01EB015611, R01MH085646, P50MH103222, T32MH067533)
  • National Institutes of Health (U54EB020403)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Advanced Neuroimaging Techniques and Applications
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Functional Brain Connectivity Studies
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Advanced MRI Techniques and Applications
Keywords
reproducibility, fractional anisotropy, white matter microstructure, diffusion tensor imaging, family history of substance use disorder, adolescents, longitudinal brain development, corticospinal tract, fornix, measurement reliability
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Brain, Clinical Protocols, Family, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Male, Reproducibility of Results, Substance-Related Disorders, Young Adult, Diffusion Tensor Imaging, White Matter

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