Inter-Vendor and Inter-Session Reliability of Diffusion Tensor Imaging: Implications for Multicenter Clinical Imaging Studies

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the inter-vendor and inter-session reliability of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and relevant parameters. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This prospective study included 10 healthy subjects (5 women and 5 men; age range, 25–33 years). Each subject was scanned twice using 3T magnetic resonance scanners from three different vendors at two different sites. A voxel-wise statistical analysis of diffusion data was performed using Tract-Based Spatial Statistics. Fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), and radial diffusivity (RD) values were calculated for each brain voxel using FMRIB's Diffusion Toolbox. RESULTS: A repeated measures analysis of variance revealed that there were no significant differences in FA values across the vendors or between sessions; however, there were significant differences in MD values between the vendors (p = 0.020). Although there were no significant differences in inter-session MD and inter-session/inter-vendor RD values, a significant group × factor interaction revealed differences in MD and RD values between the 1st and 2nd sessions conducted by the vendors (p = 0.004 and 0.006, respectively). CONCLUSION: Although FA values exhibited good inter-vendor and inter-session reliability, MD and RD values did not show consistent results. Researchers using DTI should be aware of these limitations, especially when implementing DTI in multicenter studies.