In a companion paper by Cohen-Adad et al. we introduce the spine generic quantitative MRI protocol that provides valuable metrics for assessing spinal cord macrostructural and microstructural integrity. This protocol was used to acquire a single subject dataset across 19 centers and a multi-subject dataset across 42 centers (for a total of 260 participants), spanning the three main MRI manufacturers: GE, Philips and Siemens. Both datasets are publicly available via git-annex. Data were analysed using the Spinal Cord Toolbox to produce normative values as well as inter/intra-site and inter/intra-manufacturer statistics. Reproducibility for the spine generic protocol was high across sites and manufacturers, with an average inter-site coefficient of variation of less than 5% for all the metrics. Full documentation and results can be found at https://spine-generic.rtfd.io/. The datasets and analysis pipeline will help pave the way towards accessible and reproducible quantitative MRI in the spinal cord.
CRSNG/NSERC, Canada Research Chair in Quantitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Canadian Institute of Health Research, Canada Foundation for Innovation, Fonds de Recherche du Québec - Santé, Fonds de Recherche du Québec - Nature et Technologies, Canada First Research Excellence Fund (IVADO and TransMedTech), Quebec BioImaging Network, Spinal Research (UK), Wings for Life (Austria), Craig H. Neilsen Foundation (USA) for the INSPIRED project, National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Instituto Investigación Carlos III (Spain), Czech Health Research Council, Ministry of Health, Czech Republic - conceptual development of research organization, National Imaging Facility and Queensland NMR Network, SpinalCure Australia, European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme - European Research Council (FP7/2007–2013), Max Planck Society, European Research Council, European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI), ERA-NET NEURON - BMBF, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Rosetrees Trust (UK), UK Multiple Sclerosis Society, NIHR Biomedical Research Centres, UCLH, Italian Ministry of Health Young Researcher Grant 2013, FISR Project “Tecnopolo di nanotecnologia e fotonica per la medicina di precisione”(funded by MIUR/CNR), TECNOMED project (funded by Regione Puglia), Million Dollar Bike Ride from the University of Pennsylvania, investigator-initiated PREdICT study at the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (Barcelona) funded by AstraZeneca and CRIS Cancer Foundation, the Wellcome Trust (UK), Systems, Technologies and Applications for Radiofrequency and Communications (STARaCOM), Swiss National Science Foundation
Cohen-Adad, J., Alonso Ortiz, E., Abramovic, M., Arneitz, C., Atcheson, N., Barlow, L., Barry, R. L., Barth, M., Battiston, M., Büchel, C., Budde, M., Callot, V., Combes, A. J. E., De Leener, B., Descoteaux, M., de Sousa, P. L., Dostál, M., Doyon, J., Dvorak, A., ... Xu, J. (2021). Open-access quantitative MRI data of the spinal cord and reproducibility across participants, sites and manufacturers. Scientific Data, 8(1), 219 (17 pages). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-021-00941-8