Assessing the Equivalence of Brain-Derived Measures from Two 3D T1-Weighted Acquisitions: One Covering the Brain and One Covering the Brain and Spinal Cord

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: In MS, it is common to acquire brain and spinal cord MR imaging sequences separately to assess the extent of the disease.

The goal of this study was to see how replacing the traditional brain T1-weighted images (brain-T1) with an acquisition that included both the brain and the cervical spinal cord (cns-T1) affected brain- and spinal cord–derived measures.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-six healthy controls (HC) and 42 patients with MS were included.

Of those, 18 HC and 35 patients with MS had baseline and follow-up at 1 year acquired on a 3T magnet.

Two 3D T1-weighted images (brain-T1 and cns-T1) were acquired at each time point.

Regional cortical thickness and volumes were determined with FastSurfer, and the percentage brain volume change per year was obtained with SIENA.

The spinal cord area was estimated with the Spinal Cord Toolbox.

Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) were calculated to check for consistency of measures obtained from brain-T1 and cns-T1.

RESULTS: Cortical thickness measures showed an ICC >0.75 in 94% of regions in healthy controls and 80% in patients with MS. Estimated regional volumes had an ICC >0.88, and the percentage brain volume change had an ICC >0.79 for both groups.

The spinal cord area measures had an ICC of 0.68 in healthy controls and 0.92 in patients with MS. CONCLUSIONS: Brain measurements obtained from 3D cns-T1 are highly equivalent to those obtained from a brain-T1, suggesting that it could be feasible to replace the brain-T1 with cns-T1.